


When Cruel Meets Kind

by TheBookwormAuthor



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Guest characters will eventually come into play as well, Rated M for future sex, commission
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-10
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2018-10-17 05:52:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 30,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10587771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBookwormAuthor/pseuds/TheBookwormAuthor
Summary: Sakura Haruno has been training under the wings of Tsunade to become the best medical ninja that she could ever become.  But during that time, the Hokage has decided to give the girl a new mission: To find out as much as she possibly could about the Akatsuki using Kisame, who the Konoha ninja's managed to capture.But did she ever expect to find herself falling for the criminal? And vice versa? How was she supposed to deal with this? Perhaps time would tell?





	1. Chapter I

It was a normal day for Sakura- Well, as normal as one could say. Taking a break from dealing with Naruto and any of the others sitting around the village today, Sakura chose to return to more of her medical studies. After all, it had been a while since she had gotten the chance to do this.

Naruto knew how to keep her well distracted with his dorky antics. Not to mention all the kids that he somehow kept bringing around. Seriously, how did he manage to always find a horde of them and play with them? He was really too old for stuff like that. Maybe she should talk to him about it later?

Nah, he wouldn't listen to her. Plus it gave the kids something to do and kept them entertained. Not to mention it did the same for Naruto. That was one less person to bother her while she was trying to study.

Or so she hoped.

Having just sat down to begin reading one of several scrolls that Tsunade had given her, Sakura could hear the knocking on her door. Assuming it was Naruto at first, the pinkette sighed loudly while getting to her feet. And here she thought that today was going to be a quiet day.

Listening to the sounds of what she guessed was impatience in those knocks, Sakura told the visitor that she was coming and to calm down. But that didn't seem to stop them. In fact, it sounded like it made them pound against the door harder.

Now mildly irritated by this, Sakura threw open the door with a forced smile on her face.

"What do you want? I said I would be right here and-" Pausing in her words when she realized that it was Kakashi, the girl relaxed somewhat. She was surprised that it wasn't Naruto. "Oh? Kakashi, what are you doing here? Did Naruto do something stupid again?"

"Oh, no. Nothing that's too much trouble. Lady Tsunade was actually asking about you. She keeps wanting you so she can tell you something, I think. Either that or she has a mission for you."

Green eyes widened slightly in surprise. A mission for her? Did that mean Naruto was going with her? If that was the case, it might be a good idea to stock up on some more herbs. Not like she would really need them, but one could never be too prepared. 

But now the question was what could the mission be. Maybe going to a distant land? Or maybe Sasuke sent word that he needed help? No, that last one was doubtful. Not only was he too prideful, but Sakura was no longer at her friends beck and call like some lovesick little girl.

It shocked everyone in the village when she had stated that she no longer had feelings for Sasuke. And even Naruto tried to deny it, saying that she shouldn't lie to herself. But she was being truthful. The pinkette really didn't have any feelings of affection for him anymore.

The problem then was that no one else believed her either! Frankly, it was insulting. People thought that this was a ruse to make Sasuke want her. But everyone stopped voicing their opinions about Sakura's confession when she threatened to punch Naruto and anyone else who talked about it into an early grave. Hell, she even promised to create a tombstone out of their houses.

After that, no one questioned Sakura's relationship with Sasuke. Which was all for the better. In her mind it was, at least. It gave her more freedom to get things done and not have people constantly asking if she still liked the ravenette. Though it had some faults, Rock Lee thought that this meant she was available again. So she had to deal with that every now and then.

But it wasn't that big of a deal. Not to Sakura, at least. She could deal with Rock Lee easier than she could deal with the whole Sasuke thing. That probably would confuse a ton of her fellow ninja, but not Sakura. Not in a life time.

"So what kind of mission is it, Kakashi? Do you know?"

"Not really, no. Though..." Taking notice of Kakashi's pause, Sakura stopped stuffing medical supplies into her bag, pink bangs looking up towards her former sensei. "I don't think you'll enjoy it too much."

Not enjoy it? What was that supposed to mean? Was it a really dangerous mission? If so, shouldn't she have someone joining her along the way?

These questions must have shown in her eyes because Kakashi chuckled underneath his mask. Though it didn't seem to have any humor inside of it. It sounded more like it was dry. Lacking in the humor department, was he?

"You'll see what I mean, trust me. For now, you should still go see Lady Tsunade."

It was with that, that Kakashi left, walking away from the girl's house. But she was already packing her things up and starting to head out the door. 

Still, her thoughts were focused on what the mission was- and why her old sensei thought that she would be unhappy about this. There was no way that could be possible. Unless she was stuck with someone that she couldn't trust. Like someone from the Akatsuki, for example.

But that wasn't possible. They would never show up around the village. Right?

Skipping through the village, Sakura could hear the familiar voice of Ino calling out to her. Just seeing her friend made the pinkette's heart soar. Not because of affection or anything, but because she was so happy that Ino and her were back to being friends. Ever since the Chunin exams so long ago, the two had begun talking again.

That honestly made her so happy. When they weren't communicating and insulting each other so much, it put a strain on Sakura's heart. But now that they were back together? She was able to talk to the girl about anything that she wanted and not have her friend be offended. Of course there was the usual arguments, but wasn't that normal in all friendships?

If it wasn't, then there had to be something wrong with the other friendships.

"Ino, hey. What are you doing here? I thought you were working at the flower shop today."

"Well, yeah! I am. I was just taking a break, cause I heard you were going on a mission." So she knew about it too? Did everyone in the village know about her mission besides her? If so, that didn't bode well for her at all. Maybe she could get some information out of Ino? That is, if she knows anything that Sakura doesn't.

"Yeah, I'm going to see Lady Tsunade about it right now. Kakashi was saying that I won't like it. Do you have any idea what it is?"

That question seemed to surprise Ino. Perhaps she really didn't know what the mission was? That was definitely possible. Majority of the time, the ninja's that weren't involved in the missions had this problem. Or they heard about it days after the quest was done with. Sakura had dealt with things like that before too.

"Well actually... I heard that your partner for the mission was someone that smelled like fish. Or that they looked like a fish? I don't remember."

Looked like a fish? Smelled like one? While that wasn't the weirdest thing she had ever heard, it was definitely something that she hadn't been expecting to hear. It must have shown on her face because Ino chuckled as she shook her head.

"I know, right? I mean, who would go around smelling like a fishermen's catch? Seems weird, right?"

"Yeah, definitely. If that's true, I hope they know what a bath is!"

This caused both girls to giggle. Like young teenagers again, way back before they had even begun to train as ninja. It was a nice feeling, to be reunited with a good friend like Ino.

But unlike other days, when she would sit and talk with her blonde friend, she had to leave today for Lady Tsunade's. Was it odd to admit to being excited for the mission because of the mystery of who she was working with? No, it didn't have much to do with that. It was the fact that she was going on a mission that made the excitement rise.

It had been so long since a mission had happened that involved Sakura. For all she knew, she could be rusty! 

But with all of her training, that wouldn't be possible. She was more than capable of this mission, without a worry for her abilities to be rusty.

Shaking her head once more, Sakura began waving her hand towards Ino in a goodbye gesture. She had places to be and Ino probably had customers in the store waiting for her to come back inside while her mother manned the shop.

"Well, I'll be going then! Maybe we'll see each other after the mission is over?"

"Yeah, you can count on that, Sakura. I have some new flowers that you might wanna look at too. There are pretty ones that I think you'll like!"

Was that so? In that case, the next time that she stopped by the flower shop, Sakura would definitely have to take a look at them. While she wasn't well informed about what flower meant what thing, Ino was by her side so often when she was in the flower shop that she didn't have to worry about that. The blonde was always able to tell her what each item meant and what they represented.

But that information was neither here nor there right now. Sakura had other things that needed to be done. Including going to see what the mission was and who was joining her on it.

Several minutes later, the pinkette had arrived at the Hokage's office. Where Tsunade was there, waiting for her to open the door. She probably already knew that Sakura was waiting outside the door, but she had enough patience to wait for the student to step inside.

And that was good for he, considering she could hear the words being spoken against that door. It wasn't anything that she could easily pick up just yet, but as she leaned the side of her head against the door, she could start to hear the words more clearly now.

"...do realize that your partner might not approve of this? If she knows who you are or where you're from, this won't end well. You might even get flung out the window. Or it'll be smashed from you trying to introduce yourself as a former member of the-"

"I can take a beating. After all, when I first showed myself to you, you almost broke Samehada. A feat that no one has done, if I might add."

Samehada? She had heard that name before, she was certain of it. Had Naruto mentioned something about a weapon like that? Or was it Kakashi? More than likely it was the latter, seeing as Naruto didn't often remember things word for word. So it definitely had to be Kakashi. Though she did feel a little annoyed with herself for not remembering immediately who talked about it first.

"Your partner is stronger than me, so she may just break your sword, Kisame."

Now that was a name she recognized. Sakura had heard Kakashi talking about that man. He had been part of the Akatsuki, alongside Sasuke's brother, Itachi.

So did that mean... she was partnered with someone that was previously from that group? The same one that tried to capture Naruto and Gaara? That simply wouldn't do! Why would someone from that group of criminals come here? How did they even manage to not get captured and keep from being executed? Something just didn't add up. No, not something. Everything about this wasn't right.

Deciding that she should stop listening in on a private conversation, Sakura pulled her head back. Only to then open the door, her eyes focused on the blue skinned Kisame that had turned to look in her direction.

Definitely not someone she was familiar with. But from the way he looked- like... a shark? Yeah, that had to be it -there was just an air about him that screamed he was evil. Shuffling of a chair brought Sakura out of her glare, as her eyes turned towards Tsunade, a bright smile on the pinkette's lips.

"Hello, Lady Tsunade. Kakashi told me that you were assigned a mission for me?"

The blonde woman stared for a moment, as if trying to remember what Sakura was here for again. Some would think that she was getting too old to be Hokage still; but the young woman was not one of those people. Tsunade was more than fit to be the leader of this village. And those that said other wise to her face tended to either get punched or insulted. Usually by Sakura or Shizune.

"Yes, actually. Sakura, this is Kisame. If you weren't aware, he was part of a group of criminals in the past. We found him on the outskirts of the village, asking for a chance to redeem himself and start over here."

Oh did he? For some reason, that sounded far too suspicious to Sakura. Who would waltz up to a village like that? Especially if it wasn't their home town and no one even knew them? Well, knew them in a good light. It just didn't make any sense and that was what bothered the girl the most. But she couldn't just say that out loud. 

After all, she didn't have proof. And proof was always something that you needed when it came to these sort of things. For now, she would have to stay quiet about this, and come to Tsunade when the time was right.

Putting her attention towards Kisame, who seemed to be enjoying this interaction with Tsunade and her. That grated the pink haired girl's nerves the wrong way. And it took all she had to keep from punching the lights out of the fish boy.

"I can tell from the look in your eyes that you don't believe a word your Hokage is saying, right?" Did that even warrant a nod? That was a rhetorical question, she knew it. "Well I can assure you, that I'm not going to defect on the mission. Or anywhere else. Though I might kill our companions on accident."

...That had to be a joke. He wouldn't actually kill their comrades if blood-lust took over, right? 

But as Sakura stared at Kisame, she could see that this was not the case. He wasn't joking. He meant every word that he had spoken. Was she seriously supposed to team up with this man? For all she knew, he would kill her at a moment's notice! Or try to, seeing as it wouldn't be as easy as it used to be.

"Right. So what's our mission, Lady Tsunade?"

"Oh right. Can't believe I forgot about that," watching as the fifth Hokage began looking for files that she needed to explain things with what Kisame and Sakura needed to do. "You two have been tasked with the assignment of several D rank missions throughout the village. At least for now."

That seemed reasonable for Sakura. It meant that she could get used to having to be partnered with someone like Kisame. It would give the two the opportunity to understand and look after each other. And then there was the chance for the two of them to get to know each other and become friends. But that was a far distant dream, considering his origins.

Kisame didn't seem to like this idea though. He made that obvious by the sound of his snort.

"I didn't come all the way here to be given chores that a weakling could do. Give me something else." God, he was rude. How was she supposed to handle dealing with this guy? It made her think of Naruto when he was younger. Though he hadn't really changed that much. He was still hyperactive.

"You want more of a challenge? How about during your little journey's through the village, you don't get punched by Sakura. That's an S rank mission right there."

Tsunade was joking of course. She didn't hit every one of her partners if they irritated her. Just Naruto. Most of the time. Okay, she may have decked a couple of her partners, but they all had valid reasons.

Sai was being a jerk once and she was already having a bad day. And Sasuke had been an accident. He was teasing Naruto and she had gotten between the two and forgot her own strength and had shoved both against the nearby walls some feet away. That wasn't her fault. Totally not.

"Tch, this little girl? She's the one you said could break Samehada; but I'm not buying it. She doesn't look like she can break anything but a nail."

That was the last straw. Tsunade saw that look in Sakura's eyes as the corners of them twitched in agitation. Before the blonde could even try to issue a warning for the fish ninja, the pinkette turned to face the male.

Cracking her knuckles against each other, Sakura focused her attention on Kisame as she stomped towards him. If he didn't believe she was a strong woman, their team work would get nowhere fast. It'd be best to prove how strong she really was now; then she wouldn't have to called weak.

She wasn't weak. Not since Lady Tsunade had begun training her as a medical ninja and showed her how to make her punches stronger. And it was time that she showed Kisame that. It would keep him from making those types of comments for the rest of his days.

"Listen here, Kisame," Sakura began, one fist raising itself as the muscles in her arm began to tighten considerably. She really was going to punch him. It wouldn't take much to swing her arm back and hit him square in the jaw. That's all it would take to break his jaw- probably even rip it off his face. "My name is Sakura Haruno. Lady Tsunade trained me to be one of the best ninja that there is here in Konoha. So since we're partners, you better remember my name because I'll have to heal you. And I'm strong. I could punch you out this wall and break it, and you would still be flying passed the village."

That threat seemed to make Kisame shrink down, if even slightly. He didn't want a confrontation? Even though he was the one that was antagonizing her and calling her weak? How pathetic was this guy?

Whatever. His actions were enough to make Sakura roll her eyes before she looked to Tsunade with a smile. After all, if he was going to act like this, it wasn't worth the effort needed to deck him.

"May I have the documents or information about what missions Kisame and I will be doing here in the village, Hokage?"

This caused the older female to chuckle as she looked between the two. They were certainly an odd pair. Not because of the places that they lived, but their entire personalities. Sakura was out-going and caring for all of her friends; if she found that one of them was wounded, she would stop everything and go save them. Even if she was unable to do anything but stand there and pray for their lives to continue. Strong as she was, Sakura was the type that couldn't be swayed when something happened that she didn't approve of. She had weaknesses though, but that would come later.

Kisame, on the other hand, was ruthless. While he was calm and teasing right now, everyone that had heard his name before knew of what he was capable of. This included not only outright murder of people around him, but comrades. Companions that trusted him with their lives on missions. He was the type to kill the ones that weren't valuable or that irritated him.

Hopefully, pairing one of the more cruel with the more kind would create something stable. Something unique. Something that would easily last and cause balance in Konoha, instead of causing nothing but disaster.

"Yes, of course. Here are the three missions we have for you two. For now, you can get to know each other today, and then do them tomorrow," handing the three folders to Sakura, Tsunade continued speaking, "or you could even do one today. It's all up to the both of you."

Hmm. The missions were simple enough. One was to look for a lost dog, another to paint the house of the ramen shop, and the last one was dog walking. Huh. That last one was familiar.

God, it was just like the time the old Squad Seven went out to walk the dogs. Naruto had let his lead him into land mines. Of course, he had picked the biggest dog to impress her and to try and show he was better than Sasuke. Which hadn't worked out.

...Now she just had to hope that Kisame didn't do the same thing. That was the last thing she needed.

"Alright. Kisame, you and I can get to know each other before we get started. That way, we can figure out which of these missions we're compatible with!"

Not getting an answer, the pink haired girl blinked in confusion. Followed then by her turning to look at the blue skinned man. Only to pause when it came to her realization that he had disappeared. Well, that was certainly unexpected. How had he managed to slip by her like that? 

No matter, the response Sakura had was immediate irritation. Which made Tsunade shake her head as she pointed to the now open window. A silent explanation of where he went when the pinkette wasn't looking.

Great. Just great. Now she had to go hunt him down. It was times like these that she wished she knew Kiba better. She could ask him and Akamaru to track someone down. Or even TonTon. 

But since that wasn't the case, she would have to do it by foot. Though with how blue he was and how much he stood out, Sakura figured that it couldn't be that hard to locate him.

Just as the girl was about to go out through the window to find her partner, Tsunade could be heard asking her to wait. And that was just what she did, green eyes now focusing in a questioning manner on her Hokage. Was there something that she needed to know?

"It might be wise to tell you this now instead of letting you discover it later, Sakura-" so there was something that she had to know. "-but Kisame didn't turn up on the outskirts of the village on his own. We put him there so he would think that."

"So he would think that he turned up here? Why would you do that? How did you even do that?" Though she asked this, Sakura was already coming to the conclusion of what this meant. And what it had to imply.

"It's a bit of a long story, but the short one is that we captured Kisame while he was sleeping and I came up with the idea to try and change his memory. Kurenai even helped to use some genjutsu on him. I'm impressed that it worked so well; but on the off chance that it no longer works and he realizes that he didn't defect from the Akatsuki, you are paired up with him to take him out."

So that was it. Kisame was being manipulated by genjutsu and a change of his memories. Thinking about it, that made sense. But the real question was how long it would last. And how much time they had before the rest of the Akatsuki- at least who's alive -came to get their member.

But if Sakura was the one watching him, she would be able to keep the genjutsu up. As long as the others didn't show up and attack her, that is. 

"Alright, I understand. But is there more of a reason for why we did this to him? Or is it because we wanted a member of the Akatsuki on our side?"

"No, there is another reason," Tsunade answered, sighing as she turned her head to look outside at the bright sun, "We want to get as much information as we can from him. Without torture. So we picked one of the most strong willed people we could find, and that was you. Your real mission is to get as much information out of Kisame as you can, relay it to me, and when he has given you all the info that he has, release him from the genjutsu. Preferably outside of Konoha."

Thank goodness. She didn't want to have to kill someone. That wasn't worth any information in the world if she had to kill Kisame. At least not without a proper reason and fight.

"That's all I have to say. For now, find Kisame and try to get along with him. I have faith in you, Sakura."

Nodding in understanding, the girl went ahead and climbed out of the Hokage's office through the window. Immediately, the fresh breeze greeted Sakura. It played with her hair and brought the smell of sweets and ramen, even though she didn't care for the latter. What did matter was that she had to find Kisame.

The question then was, where would he go? Closing her eyes for a moment as she began to wonder where a giant fish-like man would travel to in Konoha.

Maybe the market? No, that didn't seem right. Bookstore? No, she was certain he was a bit too slimy for that. Was he even slimy? He didn't look like it. Wait, shit, she was getting distracted. 

Gah, this wasn't working at all! She just kept getting distracted. Forget it, she would just look on foot instead of stand around like there was nothing to lose.

Deciding that that was the best option, Sakura took a running leap from the rooftop. She had complete faith that she would land on the building on the other side of the street. And that showed in her grin when her two feet touched the gray roof top.

As soon as her feet found balance on the ground underneath her, Sakura took off running in one of the random directions that had houses lined all for her. Especially with its rooftops. She could look for Kisame easily this way. Even up above here, higher than any other person on the ground below her, it would be easy to spot her partner. After all, how could anyone miss a blue fish man?

An hour after Sakura had begun her search, it seemed that question was becoming harder and harder to answer. She couldn't find Kisame at all!

This had to be a bad sign for the beginnings of their partnership. Should she call it friendship, now that she thought about it? That made the most sense, right? That was what Tsunade asked her to do. In a way, at least.

"Excuse me, I'd like all the shrimp you have."

Wait- That voice. Was that him?

"Yes I have enough money for the shrimp. Your sign says all you can eat, right?"

Okay yeah, that was definitely Kisame's voice. It was a little hard to recognize, but when your mouth sounded like it was a bit full and had something deep stuck in your throat, it was hard to forget a voice like that.

Hopping down from the rooftop that she had been sitting on, Sakura blinked as she saw Kisame conversing with a seafood seller. So this was what he was doing? Buying shrimp?

"Well I'm sure I can easily eat all of your shrimp, so you better be ready to get me all of your food!"

This caused the girl to sigh in exasperation. Of course. Her new partner just had to be like Naruto when it came to food. Was she cursed with dealing with people like this all the time?

Well she couldn't complain that much. It was better to deal with people that enjoyed food too much than them enjoying something else. Like... things involving death. It was a bit hard to enjoy anything with a person that liked the macabre sort of things.

"So this was where you ran off to? A shrimp stand?" Sakura questioned, causing the blue haired man to look at her, his eyes taking her in for a moment.

"Did you have to follow me here? I was going to enjoy this food by myself, you didn't have to show up." Did he have to act so bratty too? It was like she was dealing with a combination of Sasuke and Naruto.

"We're supposed to be partners, and I said that we needed to get to know each other better, remember? That way, it's easier to understand each other and react faster when on missions together." Now he was rolling his eyes, as if Sakura wasn't watching him. If Naruto had done that, she would have punched the daylights out of him. But for now, she decided that Kisame wasn't worth the effort. Not yet. She could pretend to be weak until the time came to show her strength. She had done it before.

"Whatever. If you want to try and chat while I'm eating, go ahead. But don't expect me to talk back or something." So that was how it was, huh? Well two could play at that game. Ordering some fried squid, Sakura sat down beside Kisame. She could handle dealing with a brat like this. So bring it on, Kisame.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey, Kisame, slow down! I can't keep up with you with all these people around."

But it seemed like the older and taller adult wasn't listening. Sakura could hear him, stomping after their target without a care in the world for who was in the way. Something that the pinkette couldn't understand. Especially when she had to apologize and help up those that fell onto the ground when Kisame wasn't paying attention.

Jeez, it was rather rude of him to act like this, wasn't it. It was like he didn't car what others thought or that they shouldn't be in the way when he was walking. Just like how he used to be. At least that was what Lady Tsunade told her.

Though the older lady had told her a lot of things about their new ninja. Some of them didn't really matter; but Sakura was going to remember them no matter what was being said.

Like how even though Kisame was always going on about how he didn't like eating fish- saying it was some sort of cannibalism -there were certain fish bowls that he enjoyed eating. But that made sense, considering the fact that he looked like a shark.

Still, that didn't mean he could barrel through all of these Konoha people! And it was all for a cat, their target for this low ranked mission. 

At least she could tell that he took his missions seriously? If she could even call it that?

But still... He was going too fast. Even for Sakura. And that was something impressive; seeing as she was normally able to keep up with even Kiba. Or it could mean that he just had longer legs than she did. But that couldn't be it. Not at all.

"Would you slow down already?" Sakura's voice could be heard from behind a crowd of people, though she couldn't pick up Kisame's reply. 

Even if she did, something told her she probably didn't want to know what he had to say. Of course, because she had to keep an eye on him, it was best that she listen to everything that the fish boy spoke. But that was a detail that she didn't have the time to work with right now.

Bringing herself out of her thoughts, Sakura was forced to jump over a group of young kunoichi who must have just gotten out of the academy for the day. 

God, if only she was that young again. But then... she wouldn't be as strong as she was now. Or this good at medical jutsu. So in a way, this was going to be one of the best years for her. 

Might as well live it up while she can, right?

Coming to this conclusion, Sakura took to the rooftops, where she was easily able to not only keep track of Kisame, but their target. Really, how fast could a little thing like that be? Especially if it was outrunning her! Naruto would be insulted.

Thankfully he wasn't here for that problem. She would never hear the end of it if that was the case. 

Finally- Sakura saw her moment.

Lunging down at an angle- arms first -the pink haired girl could hear not only the cat yowling in fright, but also Kisame. Did he think that she was slow or something? He had another thing coming if that was the case.

Once Sakura could feel the cat's fur and flesh against her fingers, the girl pulled the animal close to her chest. And then she pushed a majority of the weight in her body forward, causing the female to roll until she connected her legs with a nearby wall from a house.

Now choosing to take a breather- the cat included, as it was too frightened to process what had just happened -Sakura's green eyes and head snapped towards Kisame. He was approaching at a much slower pace now since he had realized that his partner had managed to get the target before him.

"Heh, looks like you handled that really well. Good job, Sakura!" God, did he have to sound like Naruto when he said that?

Getting to her feet while brushing down the white cat's raised fur, Sakura continued to stare at Kisame in a disapproving manner. If he thought he was going to get out of this one, he was extremely wrong. Naruto never got out of his stupid shenanigans, and neither would he.

"Yeah but I wouldn't have had to do any of that if you had just listened to what I was trying to tell you when the Hokage gave us this mission," the girl snapped, causing the shark to roll his eyes. "Don't you roll your eyes at me! You could have hurt this cat, you know. We're supposed to be doing these little missions to get to know each other better. I can't do that if you're running off like a maniac without me-"

"Jeez you don't shut up, do ya?"

Was he really going to act like this? In the middle of the street? Was he seriously going to act like a child? God, how infuriating. If Sakura wasn't holding the cat, she probably would have decked him right then and there. Maybe he knew that. He gave that shit eating grin he liked to make when he knew he got under her skin.

"Look Sakura, I chased the little thing down and you caught it while it was distracted by me, right?" Well... she couldn't deny that. She would be lying if that was the case. "Exactly. So you should be thanking me for helping to distract the little feline."

"Wh-? Thanking you? You scared the daylights out of this little cat! We could have caught him sooner if you hadn't chased him, you idiot!"

Now it was her turn to begin storming off, something that made the blue haired male raise his eyebrow. Surprisingly, that wasn't something that Sakura had done often. It definitely took him for a spin. One that he wasn't prepared for.

That was why, when he began following after his partner, Sakura turned her head to glare at him. He looked so pitiful back there, so out of place. It didn't help that his skin was blue and he had gills. Something she had noticed a couple days ago, but she never asked him about them.

Like really, did they serve any function? At all? Fish had it for swimming underwater and breathing but... He didn't live under the water? Were they just for show then? 

It was then that Kisame took notice of her staring. It even made it more apparent when the girl whipped her head back around to face the pathway in front of them. And then, when the male was snickering, the pinkette could feel her ears beginning to burn from embarrassment. She had been caught staring. That hadn't happened in so long! Then again, there was usually nothing to stare at in Konoha. 

But still. She shouldn't have been staring. Should she apologize? Probably. After all, she wouldn't like it if someone had been looking at her forehead as intensely as she had been looking at his gills.

"Do you want to know what they're for? If you ask nicely, I just might tell you," Kisame hummed out, his tone clearly teasing her. That only humiliated her more.

"No, I don't. I was just spacing out, I wasn't looking at your gills." Could she be any more obvious?

Apparently so, because she could hear him laughing again. And then she heard his shoes hitting the ground harder until he was walking beside the girl. Glancing towards him again, she found that he seemed to be in a good mood now. He changed moods just as fast as Naruto.

"I'll tell you what they're for if you tell me a secret about yourself."

"Myself? What does that even mean? I don't have any secrets that you need to know about."

"Don't lie to me like that, Sakura! We're partners, remember? Partners don't lie to each other." Kisame had a point, of course. But he really should learn to believe her when she said that there were no secrets between them!

Sure, there was the stuff that she couldn't say, like how the Hokage wanted her to weasel information out of him. But if he knew about it, and the genjutsu that he was put under, it could turn really bad. And that was the last thing that she needed to have happen right now.

Was she supposed to make up a lie then? Sakura never was good at telling believable lies. She would have to risk it, it seemed. A kunoichi's life never was easy.

"Um... I used to have a really big crush on Sasuke, I guess?"

"That's not a secret, little girl!" Her green eyes could see the offense that was coming off of Kisame's face as he shook his head, as if he was truly ashamed of his partner. "A secret is supposed to be something that no one knows. And everyone knew about your girly crush on that kid."

Everyone knew about it? Oh god, that sounded way more embarrassing than she thought it would be. Did that mean Sasuke knew about it? Yeah, he definitely knew about it. He probably knew way before anyone else.

Lots of the girls in their class confessed their love for him. Thank god she didn't have feelings for him anymore.

"Then... I guess- Well, I usually eat something really healthy to watch my figure and to stay in tip top shape," glancing towards the shark man, Sakura could see that he was crinkling his nose. So he didn't like what she had to say? He clearly didn't talk to girls a lot, "but I like to sneak some sushi. Sometimes eel, sometimes shar-"

The look in those blue eyes almost immediately silenced the girl. Clearly, he didn't seem to like that secret. Did he not like shark sushi? Oh wait. He was a shark. Of course he didn't like it. That would be cannibalism, right?

"You better not have been about to say shark, kiddo. I'm a shark. I don't eat my own kind."

So it was because she had been about to say she ate shark sushi. Was that something he didn't like? It made sense, considering he didn't look like someone who would eat one of his own kind.

"What? No, no, no. I wasn't going to say shark sushi! I was going to say sharp cheese, haha..." Well that certainly was the worst lie she had ever told. 

Kisame didn't even look like he believed her. And who could blame him? Was there even such a thing as sharp cheese? If there was, she didn't want to know about it. Or try it. Cheese tended to taste horrible.

"Right, whatever you say, kiddo," relieved that he seemed to believe what she had said, Sakura continued making her strides towards the missions office, "my gills are just for decoration. I got them from knife wounds that didn't heal right."

Knife wounds that didn't heal right? Was that even possible? For some reason, Sakura didn't want to know if that was possible or not. She was just going to accept that confession as it was.

"Well I hope that you never have to get another knife to the neck then. It would sit wrong on your throat with how many gills you have there now." Sakura commented as she bounced up to the office door.

Turning on her heels to watch Kisame make his way towards her, she could see the eye rolling that he made. He had probably given a snort too. But she was too focused on completing the mission to really pay attention to what he had to complain about.

That was shown by the way the girl walked through the open entrance once her partner had made it the rest of the way. And that was when she heard the male groaning and complaining that she was moving way too fast.

That was too bad for him. It wasn't her fault that she was used to walking around so fast. Or maybe it was because of his attire. He still wore that Akatsuki outfit. Sakura would have to change that. If Tsunade didn't give them another D-rank assignment, then that would be what they'd do today: Get him new clothes. Ones that made it easier for him to maneuver.

If he even wanted to be able to move around safely without the chance of dying, that is. But that was an argument that she would have to start with him when they left the office.

Smiling in her usually warm manner, the girl walked towards the front of the desk to begin explaining the details of the mission they had been given. 

Immediately, Sakura took notice of the fellow ninja's eyes moving passed her, and straight to Kisame. Really, she couldn't go anywhere without someone realizing who accompanied her. Was she going to have to deal with this the entire time they worked together? 

She knew the answer to that; she didn't even have to answer herself, that was how dumb the question was. But it was something that she would have to get used to. Especially if Kisame tried to provoke a friend or ninja that also lived in the village. Or outside of the village, for that matter.

The last thing that was needed was to hear that Kisame was attacking people just because they weren't from the village. But she highly doubted that that would be a problem. Mainly because Sakura was there and it wasn't like she was going to let that happen.

While she wasn't one to police people about what they had to do, that situation- if it came to be -was something that she would have to stop immediately. It wasn't something that she wanted to have happen though.

Killing was never on her list of things to do when it comes to going through missions. Only when it was absolutely necessary, did she do it. 

"Names and detail of your mission, please."

Detail of the mission? Was that supposed to be a joke? The cat was in her arms; there didn't have to be any details to give! It was obvious what they had been doing. Or was the person simply following protocol a little too much? That could be the case. Whatever, Sakura didn't really mind having to explain things again. She was used to dealing with Naruto.

"Sakura Haruno and Kisame-" for the life of her, the pinkette couldn't remember if the shark man had a last name. But it was a mute point at this time. "-We were assigned a D-Rank mission: To catch the nearby stray cats that are all over Konoha. After a long day of working, we have managed to catch all felines, including the one in my hands here."

"Alright, and would you say that your mission went smoothly? Or could it have gone better?"

Sakura didn't have to be paying attention to Kisame to know he was snorting. He was amused by the questions. And to an extent, so was she. After all, it wasn't every day that this sort of thing happened. Especially when you were partnered with someone that you knew little to nothing about.

"Well I think it went smoothly! Could have gone better if someone hadn't jumped in my way." Slightly annoyed by what the fish boy said, Sakura decided that she would play his game as well.

"I agree. If we had managed to do this without any hiccup, I was gong to treat my partner to whatever sea food he wanted," was that his jaw dropping to the floor, or Samehade? Either way, it was worth saying this stuff in front of him, "but since he didn't really help me out, he won't be getting anything from me."

Placing the feline- who seemed to have finally calmed down enough for Sakura to believe that it wouldn't race off any time soon. Or else she would have to go after it again with Kisame. And while she was up for a lot of shit, this wasn't one of those things.

Grateful that it had been finally released, the cat meowed towards the pinkette as the ninja on duty gave a nod and checked off the mission that they had been given. From the looks of it, that was all they had left to do today.

So that meant that it was going to be a day of hanging around Kisame in an attempt to get to know him better. Hopefully he was more talkative than he was on the other days when she tried to make a conversation with him.

Smiling as she and Kisame were dismissed, the girl spun around and stared at her partner with a raised eyebrow. His jaw certainly did seem like it dropped to the ground. He must have been standing in that pose for a while now. Still, it was unsightly. And he was starting to drool. That was gross and something that she didn't feel inclined to clean up at all.

Going over to Kisame, she grabbed the male by his sleeve, and began leading him out of the office. He was going to be like this for a long time, she just knew it. As if she had the time to take care of him when he was acting like this.

If anything, she should just leave him at the nearby stir-fry shop. That way, she didn't have to buy him any food. He had gotten better at sneaking away when they ate together; so Sakura was always left with the bill. Something that she really didn't want to do.

Her wallet could barley handle any more large meals. Tonight, if they ate together, she would make sure that Kisame was the one paying for the dinner.

As if he was thinking about the exact thing that she didn't want him to, Kisame began making his way towards the nearby ramen shop. He had just as much sense concerning food like Naruto, it could have been uncanny. Except they- thankfully -looked nothing alike.

If they looked alike even in the slightest, Sakura would have tried to convince Tsunade to put the shark man with someone else. It was bad enough that she still had to babysit Naruto half of the time, and he had other friends to talk to. Friends that she knew didn't want to sit and take care of a hyperactive idiot.

"So do you still want to give me whatever food I want? I helped you catch all those little kittens." This made the pinkette laugh. She knew he would ask for that, but it still amused her that he was so brazen.

"Are you sure you helped me? It was more like you were trying to scare the little guys into paralysis or something." She was joking of course. But Kisame made it seem like he was going to take it personally. Not that she could blame him. Well, she could. But she wasn't going to. That was like trying to blame Naruto for his stupidity. And it wasn't worth the effort.

But she wasn't going to. That was like trying to blame Naruto for his stupidity. And it wasn't worth the effort. 

"I did help you! If it wasn't for me, we might still be looking all over for those stupid animals. My nose is better than yours, after all."

Should she let him keep believing that? Even though it was true, the way he said it irked Sakura. But a lot of things tended to do that. She would just learn to accept it or get over it. Of that, she was certain about.

Judging from the look on his face, Kisame really wanted her to believe him too. Did he really want food that badly? She had to admit, it was sort of... cute. A surprising thing to think about. Considering the fact that she never even thought of him that way until now. 

Sakura blamed it on the fact that they had been talking and doing missions a lot together. She was getting used to his expressions and his face. As weird as it is to think that, at least.

That was why she decided to agree to feeding him. But it was also because she was hungry. Yeah, that was the excuse that she was going to use. Whether she herself believed it or not was another story entirely.

"Yeah, okay. I'll feed you. Where do you want to go?"

The moment she said that, Kisame reached out and grabbed her wrist. And immediately, she was being taken to one of the ramen shops. It didn't look like it was Ichiraku, but Sakura was pretty sure that he would wind up there sometime. If not on his own, then Sakura would be the one to take him there. It would only be a matter of time, that was for sure.

Already, the girl could hear Kisame going on about what food he wanted and what drinks he wanted. Needless to say, Sakura had a feeling that her wallet would be seriously asking for it if she didn't make him pay for the things that he wanted. Her poor wallet wasn't going to be able to handle it tonight.  
"Kisame, do you have any money of your own?"

"Well of course I do! Why are you asking?"

Didn't it seem obvious? The food was already being served to them, so it had to be obvious. Or maybe Kisame was just that stupid.

Probably him being stupid. That was the only thing she could think of. And it was the only thing that she could think of to explain why he wasn't understanding what she was trying to hint at. It seemed she would have to just say it. Not like it wasn't the first time she's had to do that with someone she's worked with.

"Because I still need to pay my rent this week. I only have enough money left to pay my land lord; so it's not like I have enough to buy you dinner tonight." 

Honestly, Sakura thought that he was going to freak out about not being able to get as much food as he wanted without having to pay for it. She expected him to even throw a fit and tell the owners of the ramen shop that he and her weren't going to pay for the meal because they were ninja. Something that had happened before- much to the dismay of the pink haired girl.

But she was surprised to find Kisame snort, followed by him waving his hand at her in a nonchalant manner. Was he.. waving her off? Was that supposed to mean that he was going to pay for it or something? She didn't understand what he was trying to say.

Kisame seemed to realize this because of the look on her face; to which he began laughing as he pulled out what looked like a coin purse- in the shape of a shark, something that didn't surprise her -and set it on the counter. Sakura definitely heard the jingling of money in there. So he did have money, that much she was able to figure out easily.

"Don't sweat it too much, kiddo. You should have said something sooner. I'll pay for both of our food tonight."

He had to be joking. She didn't expect him to do that-! Was he sick? As if she could tell if a shark was sick. His blue coloring looked to be normal, at least. But there had to be something wrong with him. Maybe it was the food? Or one of the other times they had food today? He could have caught a bug and it just now was starting to affect him.

The look on her face must have amused Kisame because he suddenly burst out into laughter, slapping his knee as he did so. Gosh, he was just full of surprises today, wasn't he.

"Did you think I was going to make you pay for all of our dinners or something? I didn't have enough money the first couple of times, so I've been saving up so I can treat you to a dinner. You know, as a pay back for doing all of that without complaining."

Wow, she never thought he would ever say something like that. It was amazing. She never thought Kisame would buy her dinner; he just never seemed the type. Yet here he was, ordering a round of fried shrimp for Sakura.

The very thought brought a grin to her face. Maybe they were getting along better than she thought they were. That was good. She could learn to start trusting him more if that was the case.

"Thanks, Kisame. If you keep at it like that, you're going to be a really good friend to everyone here in Konoha." 

As she said that, the girl watched as the former Akatsuki member choked on one of the shrimps that he had just stuffed into his mouth. Was that a pink flush coming onto his cheeks too? Had she embarrassed him? This day was just getting better and better.

"Yeah well, you know! It's not like I'm trying to be friends with everyone here. It's just happening." That was a lie and Sakura knew it. Dealing with him these past few days had made her realize that he wasn't the type to mean half of the things he said. When it came to anything besides using his sword on someone, that is.

Really, he was a big push over. He didn't have to put on the act he was putting on, but Sakura wasn't going to call him out on it. She had no reason to. So it was with a chuckle that she agreed to what he had to say.

"Sure, whatever you say," smiling towards the chef as he gave her the food that Kisame had ordered, the pinkette continued speaking, "maybe tomorrow, we can get you a new outfit too. Don't those clothes keep you from running around?"

It was then that Sakura watched as the shark looked down at his robes. He didn't seem like he understood what she was asking. So she would have to explain further.

"See- When you were running around getting the cats earlier, you seemed pretty slow. You managed to make me keep up with you still, but I think you can move faster if you ditch the robes. Your guard will increase too, since it'll be easier to see without your collar being up."

This made the shark laugh. And then he patted her head, like some child. That only humiliated her; but she wasn't going to say anything about it.

"I thought of doing that too. But see, these robes mean something to me. I can't just take them off and get something new. I dunno if you understand that, kiddo, but it makes sense to me."

No, it did make sense to her. For the longest time when she was younger, Sakura couldn't stand the thought of cutting her hair. Simply because of that stupid rumor that went around about how Sasuke loves girls with shot hair. God, just looking back on it made her realize how stupid she was. Thankfully she wasn't like that anymore. Or if she was, it was no longer that obvious.

"No, I get it. Maybe one of these days, you can change your clothes with the help of me. We could find you something with new importance."

Sakura would never forget the look of surprise in those eyes. Was it the surprise of her being nice to him? And implying that she would become something important in his life, hopefully? But that was what friends always did for others. She even said that sort of stuff to Naruto, who believed it more than anything in the world.

There was a moment of bewilderment on her part when Kisame leaned over and wrapped an arm around her shoulder tightly. He even pulled her towards his chest. It took her a few seconds to realize that this was a hug. Should she call it a shark-hug?

At least there weren't any parts of his rough skin touching her. Aside from his arm, but that was something else. Sakura didn't even hesitate to return the hug as she grew a smile on her lips.

"Thanks kiddo. You have no idea how nice it feels to hear something like that," Kisame said, causing the girl to chuckle as she patted his back in a reassuring manner. She didn't mind this at all. It was nice. Something that she never thought she would think when she was around someone from the Akatsuki group. Yet here she was, doing just that. And it felt nicer than she believed it ever would be.

It was then that the rest of the food was given to them, the chef smiling as he did so. If he had seen the interaction that went on between the two, he was ignoring it. Probably for the best, since Kisame wasn't the type to be like this around a lot of other people. So it only made sense that when the shrimp was being given to them, that the shark pulled away and began eating once again.

Sakura silently chuckled about it and took her chopsticks. Definitely an interesting partner to have. But at least she was never bored when dealing with him. It made going on missions with him more entertaining. Especially when he was asked about why he looked the way he did. That was a riot, considering how upset he got. Though she was there to help him. She always would be.


	3. Chapter 3

It had been what now? A month? Two months? It sure felt like it where Sakura was concerned. One to two month of being the partner of a former Akatsuki member. And one of the more ruthless ones, at that. Or, better yet, one of the odder looking ones.

Because for all the talk that he had, Kisame wasn't exactly as nasty as he tried to make everyone think he was. Dealing with him for as long as Sakura had, she could see this now. And she liked to think that he felt the same way about her. Of course, she wouldn't know that unless he outright told her this. Or showed it in some form.

But Sakura had better luck at getting Naruto to eat broccoli than she did at getting Kisame to admit that he was learning more and more about his partner as the days went on. And she was doing the same thing.

Like now! She recently learned that he adored other sharks. Whenever they were walking around the village and he found a shark for sale- and alive -he would try and buy it from the fisherman. Most of the time, it was the pinkette that had to get it for him. He was still a bit of a mooch, after all.

Though when she gave him the sharks, Sakura would always find that he had released them back into the waters. Which was a surprise, considering the fact that they didn't exactly live near the ocean. Whenever she'd question this though, Kisame would tell her that he has a sort of sanctuary at the place that he's staying at. 

And usually, she would leave it at that. It's best to leave some things to stay quiet about, after all. She didn't have to know every little thing about her friends, especially when it was Kisame.

She would eventually learn more and more about the man. And that was more than what she had asked for in the beginning.

Today though. Today was going to be led with a different sort of mission. Instead of the little D rank ones that they had been doing. They were going to take on an A-Rank mission.

Looking at it, it appeared to be simple enough. Sakura and Kisame were to watch and follow a man that was pulling a cart of priceless gems. That made sense. Though she had a feeling that it wouldn't be as easy as it sounded. Especially because it was an A ranked mission.

No mission like this was going to be easy. Mainly because they were dealing with gems that no one could ever put a price on. Who wouldn't want a share of that? Even if it meant having to try and kill someone for things that they could just buy or ask for. 

People were nice, after all. They would give things to others if it meant keeping the world happy. Or at least, that's what Sakura believed. And wasn't that better than thinking that it would be wrong?

She believed that, and that was all that she needed to feel.

"So, kiddo, are you going to explain where we're going on such short notice? All you keep telling me is that we're going on a mission."

Kisame's voice brought Sakura out of her thoughts, causing the girl to blink her teal eyes as they came to a focus on the fish man. Staring at him, the girl realized that he must have been talking to her for a long while now. He seemed rather annoyed, at least. Had she been zoned out for that long? Wow.

Hearing her name drawn out in a tone that had Sakura's skin crawling, she brought herself out of her thoughts once again.

"Well, we're going to help this man take some unique and rare gemstones to the other villages. The first being Kirigakure, followed by-"

"What? No, no, kiddo, we can't accept that mission."

Pausing in her words, Sakura looked at the shark with upraised eyebrows. Just what was he talking about? He didn't want to go on a mission there?

Why didn't he want to do that? They would get more money than they had been acquiring from the lower ranked missions. Which meant that Sakura could get more food than she had been getting from finding dogs and planting flowers!

Wait. No, it made perfect sense as to why Kisame was growing adamant in not wanting to go to Kirigakure. That's where he was living before he joined the Akatsuki, and before he slaughtered everyone on his team.

Thinking about that, should she really be wanting to accept this mission? What if he tried to hurt her while they were on the mission? Or, what if he tried to kill the person they were supposed to be protecting? There were too many possible outcomes that Sakura was starting to realize wasn't good.

She should turn this down. She really should. But the temptation was too strong; she needed the money. And, without really knowing too much about it, she definitely knew Kisame needed the money as well.

The only reason she even knew that- or had a sneaking suspicion -was because Lady Tsunade had briefly mentioned it the last time the two of them had spoken.

Kisame had the tendency of buying things that he didn't need at the time. Or he was buying too many things in one sitting. While he had free reign to do whatever he wanted with the money that he earned, the fish really should learn to think about the things he wanted and the things he needed.

Sakura was one to talk, of course. When she first started going on missions with her old team, the pinkette would often purchase things that a lot of other ninja would consider worthless. Unnecessary. But all she wanted to do back then was to show herself off to Sasuke.

God, back then she was so stupid. It was rather annoying to think about. So she definitely wasn't going to try and think about it too hard. Or too much. That sounded like a better idea.

"Are you sure? We need the money, you know...? And I'm sure if you had more of it, you could get more of that shrimp sushi that you seem to really like." Sakura said, making an attempt to persuade Kisame into agreeing to do this mission.

From the look on the shark's face, it seemed like she had definitely tempted him into doing some serious thinking. That was better than what she could have asked for, really. Kisame wasn't known to be a full thinker; but when given an ultimatum such as this one, he was known to be able to think about something this serious. But it was only because he really wanted food. That was Sakura's guess.

"Fine. But I'm not going to get too close to the village," he agreed, grumbling as he crossed his arms over his chest in a defeated manner, "I don't want people thinking that I'm trying to rejoin them."

Grinning like a girl from the academy, Sakura clapped her hands together before folding the paper talking about the mission up. She then stuffed in one of the bags that she had against her body.

Now that she had Kisame's approval, she had to get started on packing supplies! And a bit of cash. Not to mention weapons, in case they really did get attacked by someone from a different village.

"Great! We should definitely go get packed then. We can meet back here tomorrow morning and head out. Since I need to tell Lady Hokage that we decided to accept the mission." Sakura said, causing the shark man to give a little grumble and a nod.

He was definitely annoyed that he had to go back to his old home for a while, but it seemed like he wasn't going to be too annoyed about this. At least not for very long.

He would get over it faster than a cow would get over being milked. That was what Sakura hoped for, at least.

"Sounds fine to me. I'll see you then, I guess."

Watching the shark walk away, Sakura chuckled for a moment. It was entertaining to watch him walk around without someone with him. He acted like no on was paying attention to him as he walked away from her. Maybe that was because they were finally growing used to his presence? It was a possibility. But not feeling safe around him seemed to be the normal thing to feel still.

Except where she was concerned. Honestly, Sakura had found herself beginning to trust Kisame more and more as the days went on. If she told anyone that, it would probably bring them to surprise. After all, wouldn't anyone else? He was a killer and someone that betrayed his own village for the sake of keeping information to himself.

Anyone with a smart brain would realize that he was capable of doing the same thing to Sakura. Though she knew this, it didn't seem like she cared at all. She didn't have a reason to.

Sakura firmly believed that if he tried, she wasn't going to be the one that wound up dead.

\- - -

The next day, Sakura was already waiting at the gates of the village for what seemed like hours. Had Kisame forgotten about their meet up? If he did, then she was going to have to drag him out of bed from his house.

That posed the new question of where Kisame lived, though. He never really talked about where he lived, now that she thought about it. Tsunade had mentioned that the two could live together if they chose to, but Sakura didn't seem to want that. Nowadays, if this was going to be a problem for every time they needed to go on a mission like this one, she just might have to. 

That would require more money though. So they would have to earn more from missions like these ones.

Seriously though, he really needed to hurry his ass up before any more time passed. Their client was getting antsy, and so was Sakura. Just what the hell was going on?

"Do you think we can just go on without your partner? If he's not coming, there's no reason to wait around like this." The man spoke, an obvious impatience began making itself known in that voice.

The pinkette sighed, of course. If the client wanted to leave, she didn't really have a choice. Leaning down to grab her bag, the girl soon heard someone approaching the two.

As she looked up, Sakura found that Kisame was making his way towards them. It was about time, seriously.

The look on his face said that he knew the two had been thinking about leaving without him. Did that mean he had been listening? The little brat. He was lucky Sakura didn't try to cut him up into sashimi.

"Jeez, if you were any later, we would have left without you, you know! Then, you would have had to try to catch up with us." Sakura said, acting as if she was offended by the fact that Kisame had taken forever to show up.

"Calm down, calm down. I told you that I'd be here and I'm here, kiddo." The man said, shrugging his shoulders as the bag he was carrying was hoisted further up his arm.

Though she could admit that he was right, that didn't mean he wasn't late still. He should have been waiting with her or something. Anything but make them late.

Sighing, Sakura decided that it wasn't worth the effort to fight with him. He was here now and that was all that mattered. She didn't have to do this on her own. Though, thinking about it, she might have been able to do this much easier without him always threatening to kill everyone. But if left alone in the village, he may actually do it. So it was a safe bet that he should be going with her instead.

"Whatever then," she grumbled, grabbing the pouch she had set down after waiting for Kisame to show up, "shall we get going, mister?"

A nod from the client was all the two needed to begin walking away from the village. And surprisingly, he was more pleasant than he normally was. Something that confused Sakura more than she was going to willingly admit to.

It was some miles away from Konoha, that they began talking to each other. At first, it started off as simple things like the weather and how everyone was holding up with the walk. But soon, it got towards the more personal end. Like how the two knew each other, how were they assigned to working together. Things like that. 

Naturally, Sakura grew more and more suspicious with each passing second. She had every right to, of course. Not many would ask about the kinds of things that this man was doing. Although Kisame didn't seem to think this was weird at all. But that was just him. He tended to not pick things up in a quick manner, after all.

"Excuse me, sir, but I have to ask you this-" Sakura stated, stopping in her tracks to stare at the man with an ever increasing frown on her face. "-Why are you so interested in knowing about Kisame and I? We've told you all that we would care to speak about."

This caused not only Kisame to stop and stare at the girl, but also their client. Was it really that much of a surprise for her to question something that was so suspicious? Honestly, no one should really fault the girl for something like that. Especially if she just met the client and didn't know them.

For all she knew, he could be a killer in disguise. Or someone that was trying to recover Kisame from the village. Which, if that were the case, Sakura was going to be in for it. She could handle at least one person, but if they were trying to snap their partner out of the genjutsu that had him wrapped around the Hokage's fingers, she would more than likely be attacked by him as well.

And that was something that she couldn't afford having happen.

"Well if you must know: The two of you remind me of this old couple I used to know. They didn't look like they belonged together at all, like the two of you. And when they would start talking to each other or going on dates, you would see that they got along more than they let on."

So what this man was saying was that the two... looked good together? That wasn't something that Sakura had been expecting. From the looks of it, neither did Kisame. The pinkette could hear the shark stuttering behind the duo. If he wasn't careful, someone might think that he was choking on his shock.

"Wow, I didn't think you could look that surprised by something, Kisame," Sakura teased, hearing a snort and a mumbled complaint from the other ninja.

This only made the girl laugh before they resumed walking again. The atmosphere around the trio seemed to relax the more they walked together too. So that was something that Sakura couldn't complain about. She felt more at ease now that she was starting to grow certain that this person wasn't trying to pull any strings concerning Kisame or her.

As they stopped to rest several hours later- around lunch time, if Sakura was right -the pink haired girl could be found dipping her toes into the water of a small stream she had come across. For now, she didn't know where Kisame was. But she had a feeling that if he wanted to talk to her, he would show up or call for her.

Taking this time on her own, the girl breathed out what sounded like a content sigh. It had been a long while since she had been able to relax like this. It was nice. Dealing with Kisame all the time made it difficult to have a moment of relaxation, she had to admit to that. Not out loud, of course. But to herself mostly.

If word ever got to the shark man that Sakura had a hard time dealing with him, she was sure that his feelings would be crushed. After all, his only friend was Sakura. Not even Naruto seemed too keen on the idea of being friends with the guy. But when you've been made an attempted kidnapped and kidnapper, you aren't exactly blamed for something like that.

Sakura couldn't blame him and no one else could either. Maybe Sasuke or Kisame could. But those two didn't exactly count. They were idiots and didn't understand the emotions in others. Or if they did, then they just never showed it.

They were idiots and didn't understand the emotions in others. Or if they did, then they just never showed it.

Though that didn't mean the both of them were alike. Sakura was certain her friend wouldn't appreciate being compared to someone that was part of the Akatsuki. Or maybe he would actually take it as a compliment? She kind of didn't want to find out about that one, now that she thought about it.

Though Kisame would probably take it as a compliment. She knew that one for sure. He had the right personality for something like that. Sakura couldn't exactly blame him either; but she didn't think about it too much to really try and blame him.

Inching herself slightly further into the water, the pinkette breathed out a content sigh. This felt really great. Walking for as long as they had been doing really made for a workout on her legs. And while it was great exercise, it sure made her legs burn. Something that she wasn't too keen on feeling any time soon. But it gave her the chance to put her body through an endurance that was needed in case an attack occurred.

Now all she had to do was sink down passed her calves, close her eyes, and drift off for however long she was able to. Just when she was going to do that, the sound of heavy footsteps brought her green eyes open. Followed then by a frustrated blast of air, directed at a strand of hair. 

From the sounds of it, Kisame was the one that decided to approach her. Just what she needed.

"Kisame, I thought you were going to go and find some food for yourself?" Sakura questioned as she caught sight of the man standing behind her head.

While the sun was shining down on the both of them, it wasn't like she wasn't able to tell that he was grinning down at her. Sakura had a feeling that he had just come back from doing something really shit worthy. Or he had pulled a Naruto and did a prank to some poor person that was passing by. The look on his face said it might be very likely that it was the latter.

"I did and I came looking for you to give you food too," Was he really? That seemed like an odd thing for him to do. He never offered Sakura food. Sensing her suspicion, the shark continued on with what he had to say. "It's not because I thought you were hungry. It's because I caught way too many and so all of you get to have some. You should feel grateful that I thought about you and the client."

There was the Kisame that she knew. But still, something was off and she couldn't quite place what it was. At least not yet.

Rolling over so she could get to her feet in the water, Sakura sighed and grabbed her shoes. For now, she might as well play along.

At least until she began noticing slight inconsistencies that were just a bit too jarring to ignore. Like how Kisame's gills weren't in the right position along his neck. Or the fangs that he normally had, like a real shark. Not to mention there was the fact that his eyes were a slightly different color. Did this mean that someone was trying to pose as her partner? If that was the case, Sakura didn't find the situation amusing. 

Now was the time where she began thinking about how they should have set up a password that only the two of them would know. They could have done it before heading out of Konoha. That one was definitely on Sakura for not thinking ahead. But it was too late to dwell on that part now.

Though now was probably the best time to ask about who this person was. If they were able to slip up on something that Sakura knew about Kisame that they didn't know. The question then was what would be a good lie to try and catch them in it. Thinking about it, the girl came to a quick idea.

Now she just had to hope that this wasn't the real Kisame being nice to her, or else she would never hear the end of it. She would also never be able to be trusted when he wanted to be kind towards the girl. But it was a rick that she had to take.

"Well thanks for getting so much fish, Kisame! But I have to wonder, are you sure we should be eating around the client?" Sakura questioned, blinking those eyes of hers as she advanced towards her partner. "I mean, the last time we had fish, we did... that. And we were kicked out of the shop for doing it."

The look of nonchalant agreement on the older male's face told her right then and there that this wasn't the person she knew. Which made sense, considering the fact that he shouldn't have that expression. Sakura was lying through her teeth, after all.

There had been no reason they got kicked out of the ramen shop the last time they ate fish. Aside from the fact that Kisame had freaked out and told her that they should only eat shrimp. And the next time they had gone, that's what they did.

So in a way, there had been something that happened. But with the way Sakura was adverting her eyes and looking towards the ground in an attempt to act shy, it was most likely taken the wrong way. And that was what she wanted.

"Of course, of course. I think I got too excited last time and was too loud. But if we're more quiet this time, don't you think we'll get away with it?" So the impostor was taking the bluff. That was a dumb move on his part. Though he didn't know that just yet.

Giving a little laugh that anyone that knew her would realize was fake, Sakura dropped her shoes to put them back onto her feet. Now it was her chance to strike while he didn't realize what was going to happen to him.

"Of course! Let me give you something to make you feel good before we go, okay?" The nod that was given in response made the pinkette want to hurl. Seriously, did they really think that Kisame acted this way? Especially towards her? It was disgusting. Though, deep down inside, she had to admit that it was sort of cute to think of the man acting like this to someone like her.

Bringing herself out of her thoughts, Sakura started to lean up on her toes as her arms tucked themselves behind her back. This way, she was able to pour chakra into her fists.

By the time the male leaned down to try and kiss her back, Sakura was quick to pull away. Only to greet the man with a fist to the face. The impact was so sudden that there was no way they could react. And even if they could, that didn't stop Kisame's body from flying through the trees from the force that she had used.

"Do you think I'm a freaking idiot?" The pinkette yelled as she chased after her poor victim, passing by the client- who appeared just as stunned as the real Kisame, who had been sitting by the fire. "I would never do something like that to anyone!"

Sakura could hear the shark laughing behind her as she finally latched onto a bruised shinobi from what looked to be Kirigakure. Why wasn't she surprised by this?   
She had a feeling something like this would happen, considering they were transporting rare gems and people would want to get their hands on ones without paying for it. This included the villages that they were traveling towards.

Now the question was why had they taken the guise of Kisame? They must have been following the trio for a while if that was the case.

Which meant that Sakura wasn't paying as much attention to her surroundings as she should be.

Grumbling in annoyance, the pink haired girl dragged the shinobi back to the camp and looked at the two males before her. They both seemed shocked that Sakura had done so much damage to the man's face than what her body told them could happen. That was all thanks to Lady Tsunade's training, of course.

But everyone knew her specialties lied in being part of the medical crew. It wasn't something that she flaunted though. Her strength, that is. Made taking enemy shinobi by surprise.

"Kisame, tie this guy up to one of the trees, okay? He's been following us for who knows how long. He probably already told his employers that we're on our way, so the road might get tougher."

As the girl was talking, her companion did as he was told. Though it didn't seem like he wanted to be bossed around, he was complacent. Probably because he now knew that Tsunade had been serious about Sakura punching his lights out- or breaking his sword.

"If that's the case, should we start packing up and moving again?" The blue skinned male questioned, earning a nod in return.

"Yeah, definitely. If we wait around here for too long, we might get surrounded. It'd be better to keep moving."

Looking towards the other man, Sakura found that he was already packing up and getting ready to leave. At least he understood that time was now of the essence. Unlike Kisame, who was still tying the shinobi to a tree.

This led to Sakura groaning before she made her way over to the two. Only to find that Kisame had just put a hand around the others throat. Was that an attempt to choke him out? God.

"Wait, no-! We don't need to kill him, Kisame-" Sakura said, trying to make the other stop as he looked up at her.

He appeared to be confused as to why this was the case. Did Sakura really think keeping someone like him alive was a good idea? She appeared to think so, judging from the look on her face.

"Kiddo, come on. You know as well as I do that if we leave him alive, he'll come right back for us. It would only be a matter of time before he'd chase us down and try to corner us with the others. You know how this works, don't you?"

The look in her eyes said that this was the truth. They both knew that they had to kill this ninja to keep their secrets and whereabouts.

Though Sakura was sure that everyone knew the direction that they were going to go. If that was the case, they would have to change course and go to Kirigakure in a different route.

Closing her eyes as she turned away, it was the silent consent that Kisame needed to finish what he had been previously doing. Not a moment later, Sakura could hear the other shinobi's breathing struggle for a couple seconds- only to stop almost immediately. She hated the way it sounded when someone was murdered. The way they all gasped for air and struggled to stay alive.

It was something that she would never get over, and one of the reasons she had decided to become a medical ninja.

Kisame snapped her out of her thoughts when he put a hand on the girl's shoulder. Looking at him, Sakura found that he appeared to be a little embarrassed. Why, she didn't know or understand yet.

"Just so you know, I only made him pass out. He's still alive. But if he comes after us, I'll kill him."

The surprise that reflected in her eyes when he said that had Sakura's mouth falling open.

No way. Kisame actually kept someone alive? That was unheard of in the history that she knew of the man. Was he feeling okay?

Snorting from the look on her face, the shark man began walking down the path to his previous village. While doing so, the male could be heard saying, "If I didn't do it, you would think I'm a murderer and don't care for my teammates. Too bad for you, I actually do for once."

For once? Was she supposed to believe that? Because she didn't. But she guessed she would humor Kisame for now. There was no point in acting like he was lying, after all.

"Either way, thanks for telling me that, Kisame. You didn't have to, after all." This was followed by him making a noise of disapproval.

"Yeah yeah, whatever kiddo."

Walking side by side, the two continued their walk to the ocean with their client. It wasn't long before the sun was starting to go down. But they chose to continue on in the night. And hopefully, they would reach the destination without being attacked.


	4. Chapter 4

"Hey kiddo, it's time to wake up."

A groaning complaint was heard at that point. It seemed a certain pink haired ninja didn't want to get up so early in the morning. There wasn't even sunlight peeking through the trees yet. All that was there was fog. Dense and chilling. Something that was normal in this region.

But Sakura wasn't able to adjust so quickly to this sort of morning. Not like Kisame, who had grown up here. And that was why he was trying to wake up the girl.

Dimly hearing the shark start to growl because of Sakura's lack of response, it was a moment later that the girl felt herself being picked up.

It was only a moment later that she realized her mistake before she was tossed into freezing cold water. Scrambling and tearing the blanket off of her, the girl found that she was now sitting in ankle deep water. But that didn't mean she was any happier about what had just happened.

That was when she had heard Kisame cracking up in laughter. Something that wasn't often heard, especially with the mission that they were on right now.

"Kisame! What was that for?" Sakura exclaimed, pulling herself up and out of the water. She didn't approve of the fact that the shark was beginning to laugh. Again.

It was far too early in the morning to be dealing with Kisame and his stupid antics. For a moment, the pinkette thought about grabbing him and tossing the male into the river too. But that wouldn't solve anything, now would it?

Damn right it wouldn't, but it sure would feel amazing to get her revenge.

Huffing out an agitated slice of air, the girl dragged her soaking wet self out of the river. The shoes that she was wearing were even making a squishing noise now, and droplets fell from the ends of her clothes and hair.

If that didn't explain how irritated she was, then maybe her next actions would.

Her friend must have sensed that she was going to give in to her impulse because he took off running, and she followed after him. Their employer only watched the two rush by him as he was sipping some herbal tea. He had grown accustomed to this sort of interaction between Kisame and Sakura. They got bored rather easily on the trips around to the other villages, and that boredom was usually fixed by the two picking on each other. 

Majority of the time, it was Kisame that messed with Sakura. But there were the times where she would go and surprise him by pulling a prank. The game never ended when they did things like that. Especially when she was the one that was shoved into a freezing cold river.

"Get back here, Kisame! I just want to throw you in the river!"

"No way, kiddo. It's not my fault you didn't wake up when I told you to get up."

This was followed by the two practically screaming obscenities at each other as one tried to avoid the other, while the girl was trying to catch the boy. Neither let up, of course.

It wasn't until the man that they were supposed to be protecting, made an awkward coughing noise, that they stopped running around in circles.

Right, they had things to do. Play time could wait until later, when they were in the road. 

Thankfully, they had already stopped by the village, so they only had to make it out of the mist alive before they could get to the next village. For that part, Sakura and Kisame didn't have to stay with the man. It had been agreed that, upon arrival in the next village, another couple would guide him. And it would go on until he made his way back to Konoha, where he would be protected once more until the next outing.

And hopefully he wouldn't have to deal with such rambunctious adults when he needed the next team.

But that was a minor need. It was better than having to be silent the entire walk to the villages. This was a quiet comfort that the man wouldn't admit to liking, if he was being honest with himself. 

Returning to the campsite, Sakura began stuffing her bag with the blanket she had been using to sleep with. She hadn't thought to bring a change of clothes, so she had to deal with the wet ones that clung to her body like a fly on poop. The sun would have to come out some time and help to dry her as they walked. That was her only option that she was able to foresee, unless Kisame decided to offer his robes to her. But she doubted that would happen.

Glancing over to the shark, she saw that he was already hoisting his bag over his shoulder, and walking away. Yeah, he would totally give her something of his to slip in to because of her wet clothes. As if he was going to do something like that.

"You know that you're totally soaked, right kiddo? Here, take this."

Before Sakura could look up to see what was being given to her, the girl's field of vision was taken away by a sudden blackness. It was quick and the surprise of it had made the girl squeak and flail for a moment or two. Something that she would forever try to deny ever doing if Kisame teased her about it later.

After her fit was over, the pinkette came to realize that what had been placed on her was a blanket. One that the shark had taken from his home in the village, from the looks of it. Had he really been carrying that thing around this entire time? How had she not noticed it?

But still, she had guessed it right. Kisame didn't give her clothes. He just gave her a blanket. One that looked rather itchy, now that she was inspecting it closer.

"Thanks but, I think I'm just going to walk around like this. Let the clothes dry that way." The girl stated, folding up the black blanket before making her way over to the other to hand it back to him.

For a moment, she swore that there was a flicker of disappointment in those eyes. But when she blinked, it wasn't there any more.

How odd. It wasn't something that really concerned her though. It did make her curious as to why that sort of emotion would be there in his eyes. Was the blanket something that meant a lot to him? That could be the reason; but it didn't make any sense.

Kisame didn't act like there were things that he treasured. Aside from his sword, of course. Even though she had known him for a while, she still wasn't able to touch that blade.

And honestly, Sakura blamed it on the fact that he always seemed to be worried that she was going to punch him. But his worry was valid most of the time. He liked messing with her too much; and that often earned him a punch from the pinkette.

If he was lucky, he was able to avoid most of her attacks. More often than not, this wasn't the case. Though he was lucky that she didn't decide to attack him at her full strength. He would never be able to get back up if that was the case.

"If you're sure," the shark said before taking the blanket back from Sakura.

Now she was sure that he was disappointed. Was it because she declined the blanket? It was just too itchy! Wouldn't everyone else that was in their right mind refuse too?

When she heard an awkward cough come from their client, Sakura looked over to him. Jesus, even he was acting like she should have accepted the blanket! Was everyone but her crazy?

Rolling her eyes, before Kisame could start to shove it into his bag, the ninja lunged forward and snatched it away. Hearing the shark saying her name in what she could only think was exasperation, the pink haired girl turned to glare at him. That shut him up almost immediately.

"If you wanted me to keep the darn thing, you should have said so. You boys are so complicated."

This of course, when Kisame registered what Sakura just said, had him howling in laughter. Even though they should have been quiet. After all, they didn't know if they were being followed.

But you couldn't always be serious. Being too high strung would kill someone on the inside.

Puffing out those rosy cheeks, Sakura tossed the blanket over her shoulders. Because of the way he was acting, now she was going to be stubborn and wear the stupid thing. No matter how it scratched against her skin and made her flesh crawl. God, were there bugs or something all over it?

"You don't have to use it, kiddo. Actually, you probably shouldn't wear it like that."

Now he wanted her to not wear it? Just what did he want from her?

The question must have been obvious on her face because the shark came over and yanked the black fabric off of her. Her skin was the first thing that thanked him, seeing as it wasn't exactly happy having to be underneath something so itchy.

"See, I picked it up over there. So I don't even know how long it's been there and-"

"You let me put that thing around me and it isn't even yours!?" Sakura exclaimed, her fingers tightening into fists then. Now she was seriously going to punch him.

Though Kisame could be heard laughing, even though it obviously annoyed Sakura that he would pull such a thing like that to her. The shark was just unable to help himself. Teasing and playing jokes on this girl was the highlight of his day.

Not for Sakura, of course. But that didn't mean anything to the shark before her.

And just before she threw a fist at the male, there was a rustling in the bushes that caught everyone's attention. While normally, the rustling would be passed and ignored, this one sounded different than just the wind brushing against bushes.

This one sounded like something had fur, and was pushing against the bushes surrounding them. And that made the two ninja's highly aware of the fact that they had been yelling. Loud enough for anyone that had been looking for them, to find the group.

Cursing her own idiocy, Sakura took a step back from Kisame- as silent as any well trained ninja would be. And should be. When they needed to, Sakura and Kisame seemed to be the absolute perfect partners for each other.

They complimented one another in every aspect when needed. And then, they could turn right around and begin arguing like nothing ever started. The female kunoichi had come to realize that that was why they worked so well together. Maybe Kisame knew about it too, but he never voiced his opinion on the matter; and neither did she.

It didn't have to be said. The two made it very obvious in the way that they always acted towards the other.

Passing a glance between each other, Kisame could be seen grabbing at Samehada just as the girl was taking out one of her kunai knives. They were more prepared than they had been the last time someone ambushed them. And this time, Sakura wasn't going to let sympathy get to her. She was prepared to fight if she had to.

Sneaking towards the bush that had been rustling due to whatever was inside it, Sakura was the first to reach the shrubbery before Kisame.

But even though she was able to get there first, Sakura couldn't see anything in the bushes. The fog just made it too hard for her to properly see and understand what's going on. She could just make out that it looked like a rabbit, at least. Other than that, she had nothing.

The two soon shared a glance towards each other, one that asked who should strike first. But when the animal that was in the bushes, leaped out at the pinkette, she reacted faster than Kisame did.

In the moment it took him to make the motion of hacking the air with his sword, Sakura had effectively punched the furry creature against a tree. The strength she used wasn't enough to kill or seriously hurt the creature, but it was definitely enough to daze them. And that was all the group needed to figure out what had startled them.

Thankfully, Kisame had better eyes than her in the fog- and she chalked it up to him being from the village around here. After all, there were things that he could do that she couldn't, and the opposite was also true. It just depended on what village you grew up in.

As the seconds dragged on though, and the shark never said what it was that Sakura had hit, she soon became annoyed. Which was shown when her foot nudged against the others knee.

"Kisame!" The pinkette hissed through clenched teeth, "what was it? You know I can't see."

"Oh you can't? I thought you could at least see the outline-" was that supposed to be an insult? He was lucky that she wasn't going to try and kick him again. "-but if you have to know, it's just a bunny. Nothing more."

Just a rabbit? Were rabbits even around this part of the land? 

Her memory didn't serve her very well- something that she wasn't happy to admit to, even if it was just to herself -the girl rolled her eyes and scratched the back of her head. Sakura trusted Kisame far more than he probably did, but everyone knew that the ninja from her village tended to be too trusting after a while.

That being said, the kunoichi wasn't a dumb girl. Not anymore. She didn't give out her trust as easily as Naruto did. If she thought that there was something suspicious going on, she wouldn't trust anyone that was involved. But Kisame wouldn't lie to her. Or try and tarnish that trust. Even if she didn't want to believe him; she had no choice but to entrust her sight to him in this fog.

So if he said that the thing that she had attacked was a rabbit, then that is what it was.

"Okay, well, animal or not, we should start heading out. We aren't that far from the village, so it won't take us long." Sakura stated, tugging her backpack onto her shoulders before she spun around and started towards their client.

Though the pinkette was halted when she felt Kisame reaching out to grip her pack tightly. Something that surprised her. This was unusual for the shark, and it threw her off guard as she turned to look down at him.

Before she was able to ask what was wrong, the former Akatsuki member was tugging her down- a signal that he needed to whisper. But what for? She didn't understand at all. Though she complied to the others wishes, and it may just have saved their lives later on.

"Kisame, you're acting funny, what is it?" The girl questioned once she had knelt down to the others crouched height.

Despite the thick fog that surrounded them, Sakura could feel those eyes boring into her own. Like someone that had noticed something that could lead to either life or death. Or a predator capturing its prey. But Sakura would rather not think of it like that. Kisame was a friend after all. He wouldn't try to kill her. Not if he didn't want to be killed as well.

"Sakura, don't you think it's strange that we've been out here for a couple days now; and since that first attack, no one has tried to ambush us?"

This question made the girl pause. Had he been thinking that this entire time? That it was odd no one was trying to attack them? Sure, they had left a clear warning for anyone that would see the ninja that had tried to kill them before- But now that he mentioned it...

He did have a point. A very strong one, at that. Something that she wasn't used to. 

But now wasn't the time for silly quips and banter. Now was the time for serious conversations, she was certain of it.

"You're right," Sakura admitted, staring pointedly at the ground as she began biting on her lip in absent thought.

Why would no one attack them after the first one? There were several ideas that popped into Sakura's mind at that. They could be waiting to ambush the trio when their guards were completely down. They could have sent out that rabbit to try and deflect their attention from the client- but that one didn't make sense with this fog around. And there had been times that they had let the man walk ahead on his own because there was no reason to constantly watch him.

Which was a bad idea on their part, but Sakura's brain was working too fast to think too hard on that.

After a moment, she came to a conclusion that she had never thought about- and was surprised that Kisame had thought of it before her.

Turning her green eyes towards the shark, he seemed to realize that she had come to understand what he was thinking. 

That their client, could be leading them into a trap.

After all, if one thought about it hard enough, it made sense. Not once, since the beginning, have they gotten attacked. Especially when he's gone off on his own to help with supplies and the like. It didn't make sense. They had unknowingly given the enemy more than enough chances to attack their client, yet they hadn't. The only route that was left was believing that he was in on it too. 

Then the question was why. Why was he leading them into a trap? For all they knew, they could already be in it, and he's just leading them deeper and deeper into the fog.   
Sakura's immediate answer was that he knew about Kisame being part of the Akatsuki and how he shouldn't even be working with Konoha. And if that was the case, someone had to stop him before he tried to make Kisame remember what he actually was to Sakura and the others: An enemy.

"Kisame, are you sure? He doesn't seem like he would do something like that," Sakura mumbled, wanting to hear it from her partners lips and not just her head. It made it more real if it came from him too. "I mean, he led us here and asked for us-"

"Exactly." The male hissed, his eyes turning to look in the direction that Sakura assumed their client was in, "we were specifically asked to help this man. So maybe he knows something that we don't, and wanted to ambush us with his friends cause we're so good at what we're doing."

Well... That was one way to put it, she guessed. It was better than assuming one of the darker thoughts that this situation could hold. 

"So should we take him out now? Or should we wait and see if he'll attack us?"

"Now you're thinking like I do, kiddo. That's not good," he joked, chuckling some before he shrugged, "I think we should wait and see what happens. If we killed him, we might be killing someone that was innocent in this entire plan."

Now that surprised Sakura- it even showed on her face. Kisame was thinking of someone other than himself? Did she already die? The look must have revealed what she was thinking because her friend soon snorted and rolled his eyes before standing.

"Oh come on. I'm not always heartless, kiddo." He responded to her silent words.

"Is that so?" Sakura found herself saying, standing up as well before she began walking passed the shark, "because I seem to recall several stories that say otherwise."

Although the quip seemed rather harsh, Kisame was the one that began laughing. Of all the things for Sakura to say, he wasn't at all surprised that she would say those ones. After all, she was always saying things like that towards him. And after working with her for so long, he knew now that she didn't really mean any of it. Girls were often weird like that, he guessed.

"Yeah, right. All those stories could be bullshit and you wouldn't even know it," Kisame said, still snickering as he began walking once again. "But anyway, what I said still stands. We should wait."

This had the pinkette nodding. If her partner and friend thought that they should withhold attacking their 'client,' then they would do so. Both were confident in their abilities to subdue and deflect attacks that they weren't worried about being captured.

Plus there was the fact that Kisame was capable of using Samehada way easier than one would think. She had seen it more than once when they were practicing together. And he had seen some of what she was capable of. Maybe that was one of the things that made them such a good pair for each other. It would make sense. But now wasn't the time for those thoughts.

Right now, she had to start thinking about what they would have to tell Lady Tsunade when word spread that they killed their client. If they had to, at least.

The two were soon thrown out of their possibly murderous thoughts when they heard the very person they were speaking of, yelling for help. Had he wandered off in the fog? That wasn't good- even if he was just luring them into a trap.

Without stopping to think about it, Sakura raced towards the scream with Kisame close behind her. Though she was certain that he was only coming with to try and stop her before she reached their client. But she was smaller, and could run greater distances than someone as tall as him.

Which was why, when she reached where the client had been screaming for help, she stopped in her tracks. Even with how blind her eyes were in this fog, she was able to tell that he wasn't around. There was no outline of him anywhere around them.

That worried her far more than it should have. Especially when Kisame finally caught up with her. Though instead of trying to tell her off for doing something like that, he was already looking around in the fog. He understood the danger just as much as she did.

For a moment, the two were silent as they gazed into the fog, looking for the slightest movement that could kill them. Sakura didn't have to look back at her partner to know that he was pulling out his sword, just like he didn't have to look to know that she had a kunai knife in her hand.

"If you're going to attack us, you should really come out," Kisame taunted, causing Sakura to roll her eyes- he was always pulling shit like this. If she were a gambler, she'd bet that he was grinning too. "I can smell you, trying to surround us. So if you think you'll get the upper hand, you won't."

Sakura was sure that the taunt wasn't going to work. It never worked for anyone that tried to do it. Plus, he wasn't trying to freak them out. At least if Naruto had been with them, she would have heard their enemies laughing due to his stupidity. Something that she was very used to having to deal with. 

But it honestly took the girl by surprise when she heard someone chuckling in the fog. From the sounds of it, it came from the left, a couple feet away from her ear. Were they that close? That wasn't good. Not at all. 

Testing the air and distance, the pinkette tossed out one of her throwing stars, waiting to hear a clink of metal against metal. 

It took only seconds for the sound to come back to her ears, and that told her everything. She didn't have to tell Kisame either. Or if she did, he probably wouldn't be listening. 

Not to mention he didn't have to be told it. With his eyes, he could see through the fog far better than she could. He probably knew that they were surrounded the moment they stopped running. And if that was the case, he should have told her. But it was whatever. There was nothing they could do about it now.

"Are you sure you want to try and kill us, Kisame? You can't even see us." 

So they know who he is. That could be bad. Very bad. The genjutsu could falter and shatter if someone from the Akatsuki was around.

After all, if he met someone from the organization, there was the high chance of his personality coming back. And if that were to happen, Sakura was as good as dead.

Damn it, if only she had thought about this before accepting the mission. She shouldn't have been so caught up in the fact that they had personally requested her and Kisame- she should have remembered the genjutsu was in place. God she was dumb.

"Does it matter? I don't need to see you to kill you."

It seemed Kisame was getting rather blood thirsty. Sakura could hear it in his words. It didn't take much to imagine the expression of a cold blooded killer on his face. Eyes appearing empty as he sliced Samehada into someone's skin, mouth open in laughter when his victims cried out in pain.

Stop that. She had to focus. Focus on what the problem was. Even if the genjutsu was broken, if she could find a way to get out of this alive without Kisame, that was all Tsunade would care about. She couldn't stand the thought of making the Hokage sad over her death.

"And what about your partner here?" Was it just her, or had they seemed to scoff at the term 'partner'? "Do you think she could fight against us?"

"Hell yeah. Sakura's a good kid. She could knock you out with one finger."

Well okay, that might be an exaggeration. She wouldn't call herself that strong, despite what Tsunade and the others that have sparred against her have said. If this wasn't a serious situation, she'd have rolled her eyes at Kisame.

Though the girl's skin began crawling when she swore that there was a hand playing against her hair. Taking a deep breath, Sakura turned her head just enough to glare in the direction she had a feeling their trapper was in. Even though she couldn't see them, the pinkette swore that she felt them backing off.

Blind in this fog or not, it seemed they didn't want to mess with her if Kisame had praised her like that. Which was good for now. It meant that they wouldn't try to pull a fast one on the girl. Hopefully.

"So she can do that, hm? I think we should test it out, don't you guys?" It was with that question that Sakura could hear several men agreeing with whoever was speaking. At least she knew who the leader was. But she still didn't hear the familiar voice of their client. He must have run off, or was hiding in the fog, waiting to attack them as well.

Even if she wasn't focused on what was being said, Sakura's head snapped up when she heard footsteps coming at her. So they thought that attacking the smaller looking person would make it easier to attack? What bullshit.

Kisame didn't need to be told to take a step to the side to protect himself before Sakura's fist went flying to meet her assailant. 

That was when she was able to see who was attacking them. Some group of ninja from the Village Hidden in the Mist. They must have known Kisame was with Konoha, and wanted to try and exact revenge. What a bunch of idiots.

The impact of the punch sent the ninja backwards through the air- and she swore that she heard them splash into water.

That meant that they weren't going to be coming back. She may have broken their nose and jaw, actually.

The others that surrounded the two seemed to have gone silent from shock. Sakura didn't have time to look back at Kisame to see if he had relaxed enough to let her know they had run off. 

Mainly because more came at her. 

Now, people might not understand how hard it was to throw punches. To avoid killing or seriously injuring someone, Sakura had to do that. She wanted to just knock them out. And that wasn't hard to do, it was just that more and more kept piling themselves against her.

From the sounds of it, Kisame was even fighting- though he was going straight for the kill. Sakura didn't have a moment to reprimand him though. She had her own problems.

At one particular punch though, she admitted that her frustration had gotten the best of her, and she may have done it too hard. Before she could start to feel bad, the girl blinked at the sudden water that splashed into her face. Water clones? Or was it substitution? She didn't have the time to tell, but she was certain they were clones.

That made her feel better for punching all the ninja that came at her.

But it all came to a sudden end when Sakura's vision went black. The last thing she remembered was a sharp pain in her stomach, and the thought of making Kisame pay for not calling out to her.


	5. Chapter 5

It was wet and cold; ice cold. Like a slug made of ice was crawling up her back. Really, it wasn't a pleasant sensation. That was probably the first thing that caused Sakura to stir from her unconsciousness. The second thing to completely awaken the ninja, was the alarm that suddenly shot through her body.

She wasn't supposed to be here, feeling wet or cold. The last thing that her brain could remember was that Kisame and their employer were trying to make their way through the fog to get to the Village Hidden in the Mist.

Was that still a thing that needed to be done?

Groaning, Sakura pulled herself to her knees, rubbing the side of her head as what felt like a headache began to nestle itself in her head. God what happened?

In response to her question, the pinkette felt a slight throb in her stomach. Looking down revealed that she had been wounded- but from what?

Gingerly, Sakura pressed her fingers against what felt like a crude attempt of bandages- leaves? Yeah, it definitely felt like someone was using leaves to hold her stomach together. So it was old fashioned medicine?

Struggling to remember what had happened to cause an injury like this, the shinobi looked at the surroundings she sat around. Despite how dark it was, it seemed like she was in a cave. That would explain why she felt wet and cold- now she could hear water dripping from the ceiling above her.

So now she knew where she was, but now the realization that Kisame wasn't around hit her. Where was that shark? Was he captured? No, if that was the case, she wouldn't have been left alive. Or being treated for a stomach wound. That meant he had to have gotten away and brought her with him. It was the only logical conclusion that she could come to.

And if that was the case, did that mean he was close by, waiting for her to wake up? That also seemed like a fair conclusion.

But that lead to the other conclusion that someone that she didn't know or was aware of, could have taken her away from Kisame to nurse her injuries. That didn't sound nearly as bad as it should have been; Sakura should have felt more worried about this entire situation than she actually was.

Prodding her injury once more to try and gauge how long the cut was, the shinobi stiffened considerably when the sound of footsteps began dancing off of the walls of the cave. Someone was coming. She couldn't tell who it was going to be- and her pack didn't seem to have any of her weapons inside it anymore.

She was a sitting duck, and that didn't bode well. It didn't seem like her wound would hinder her at all, but that didn't mean it wouldn't be a problem if she reopened the wound.

Sakura didn't have a choice but to wait and see who was coming down the tunnel. And hopefully, it would be Kisame.

It wasn't until a minute or two had passed agonizingly slowly, that her savior appeared in her field of vision.

Muscles that had been unconsciously tense seemed to relax as soon as those green eyes saw Samehada, followed by her sharklike friend. A quick glance here and there told the woman that Kisame was only slightly injured- but that didn't mean there couldn't have been poison in whatever weapons had been used to confront the former Akatsuki member.

"Jeez, you scared me, you know that? I didn't know if it was you or not, Kisame." Sakura said, breathing out a sigh as she leaned back against the cave's wall.

"Heh, sorry. I didn't think you'd wake up. You've been out for half the day."

Had it really been just half of a day? Well, that would explain why they were in a cave. If they had gone back to their village, Sakura probably wouldn't have been approached by him. The village doctors would have refused to let anyone see her until the wound was healed completely.

It also explained why her bandages were fairly crude compared to what she could do with the right medicine. Now that she thought about it, Kisame was never taught how to treat wounds. She would have to show him how to do that later.

"No one knows we're here, by the way," Kisame said, as if he found the silence to be awkward, "The ninja that attacked us ran off after you smashed a hole in the ground. Apparently they didn't think someone like you would be that strong."

If she had only just met Kisame, Sakura would have taken that as an insult. But thankfully she knew better. She knew that the male was giving her a compliment in his own way. And that was something that she could appreciate.

Though she didn't exactly remember making a dent in the ground. It must have happened just after she passed out, with chakra still in her fist. Yeah, that sounded like something she would do. Tsunade had done it more than a couple of times so it wasn't as if Kisame was pulling an excuse out of his ass.

"Okay, so if they haven't tried to surround us, we should be able to leave and head back home," Sakura stated, now beginning to pull herself off the ground. Immediately, her wound throbbed and began hurting, causing the girl to flinch and curse in pain. Of course. It hadn't fully healed yet.

"Kiddo, I don't have to be the one to tell you that you're in no condition to be moving, right?" Kisame asked, his tone indicating that there was that stupid smirk on his face. The one that he wore when he knew he was right about something he said.

"You're right, you don't have to tell me. But I'm going to move anyway. We can't stay here for very long; you do know that they'll come back when they realize I'm awake and injured." Sakura retorted, earning a snort from the sharkman.

"We can fight each other on this as much as you want, but I'm not moving you and I doubt you will make it even a foot before you collapse." 

That was a challenge, wasn't it? Oh he should have known that Sakura was going to accept that sort of challenge.

He could see the look of determination beginning to appear in her eyes, and it caused the shark man to sigh. He should have known better than to instigate Sakura. After all, she was used to dealing with Naruto and Sasuke when they were younger. Of course she would retain some of their personalities inside of her.

"That wasn't a challenge. You really need to rest," her friend stated, crossing his arms over his chest, "You're injured and we both know you can't move around quickly."

Well, he did have a point. But that didn't mean that the shinobi wanted to admit to it. Though she didn't have to say anything for him to know that she understood what he was saying. While they weren't in perfect sync, they were in sync enough to understand certain things that the other wanted without words being spoken.

"So are we going to sit here until I get better?" Sakura questioned, mimicking Kisame by crossing her arms over her chest. "If those shinobi are still out there, then they won't take long to find us and take us out. No matter how strong you think you are, Kisame, you can't take on six or ten people at once."

Now it was his turn to act like he was going to try and challenge her words. But she chose to not say anything. Even if he wanted to argue with her about this, they both knew that the shinobi could come and ambush them at any second. 

The two of them were sitting targets, and one of them was injured. Sakura couldn't fix herself up as easily as she could if Kisame was the one that was injured. If they had no choice but to stay here, in this cave, she would have to rely on the former Akatsuki member to take care of her where the wound was concerned.

It seemed that the both of them thought of the same thing in that instant. Though Sakura didn't seem as willing to let herself be cared for than Kisame. That was the pride she had developed over the years, though. It wasn't Kisame's fault at all.

"Well, it's a good thing I picked one of the few places that ninja like them would think to look in," his words brought confusion to the pinkette's eyes. Did he know something that she didn't? Judging by that shit eating grin on his face, she would have to say that he did know something. "See, I'm not as dumb as you or the others think I am. I knew that the first place they would look for would be near water, or behind waterfalls. We're hiding in plain sight."

Plain sight? That had to mean that they were still out in the woods, where they could be found at any second. That also meant that their voices- their usual speaking voices -were too loud, and could give away where the two were.

Unless Kisame had thought of that as well and was hiding them somewhere else.

The look on her friends face seemed to say that without any words. And for some reason, despite how Sakura was logically thinking about this entire situation, she trusted her friend. She trusted Kisame, and would continue to do so. Even if the world around them was going to crumble at their feet.

She would believe him unless shown otherwise.

"Alright, so what do you plan on doing now that we're going to be stuck here then?" Sakura said, letting Kisame know what he already knew: That they would stay here until the girl's wounds healed up enough for them to go back home. As if she had a real choice in this discussion.

"Well, I didn't get that far," Kisame said, his shoulders raising in a shrug that said he didn't necessarily care about the annoyed look on the pinkette's face, "Thinking too much isn't my forte. That's normally yours."

"Normally mine? Kisame, you do have to think for yourself sometimes, you know? What if I was still unconscious and those ninja came back?"

Those questions seemed to hang in the air for what felt like years. The silence between the two of them was all that Sakura needed to hear to know that he hadn't planned anything beyond hiding them. Seriously, how had he survived on his own all of these years?

Then again, it wasn't like he was always alone. He had the Akatsuki previously. Now that she thought about it, there wasn't really a time when he was allowed to be on his own.

Even now, at the village, there was always someone watching him. Thinking about it, it made the girl feel bad for accusing him of being unable to think of a plan properly. He was never really given the chance to do so; and when it struck, he did the best he could.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have said that. You did the best that you were able, and that's the only thing we could hope for, right?"

This brought back the grin on his face. It seemed that that had been what he wanted to hear, and Sakura couldn't blame him in the slightest.

"At least someone appreciates and apologizes to me," Kisame said, snickering as he spoke. Normally it would irritate the pinkette,but she didn't have the energy to do so.

In fact, Sakura was beginning to notice her field of vision was growing hazy. Was her body deciding to shut down again? Rubbing one of her eyes, the shinobi could hear Kisame shuffling towards her, followed soon by his hand gently touching her shoulder.

"You're getting tired, right? Go back to sleep and rest up. I'll keep watch."

She would have argued about this if she had the strength to do so; but Sakura didn't seem too argumentative at the moment. Those minty green eyes of hers were already beginning to close as her head lolled forward. She was already unconscious before she managed to lay back down.

Those minty green eyes of hers were already beginning to close as her head lolled forward. She was already unconscious before she managed to lay back down.

\- - -

It was dark inside the cave by the time Sakura next woke up. Too dark for her eyes to properly adjust to as she opened them.

The pain in her stomach seemed to have gone away for now- but the woman could feel her body beginning to shiver. It took her a moment to figure out that the weather had dropped considerably since she had last been awake, and she was still in her clothes. With no blanket.

Groaning softly, Sakura began pushing herself into a sitting position. Now her eyes were starting to adjust; she could make out certain shapes and all of them were just rocks. There was definitely no sign of Kisame. At least not from where she could see him.

"Hey... Kisame? Are you here?" Sakura croaked out, blinking her eyes some more.

When she heard no response, the pinkette slowly slid to her feet. It was rather difficult, seeing as she hadn't been walking for who knows how long, but she managed it.

"This isn't funny, you know? You can't just make an injured person walk around like this," grumbling the entire time, Sakura's hands began moving around in front of the rest of her body. She couldn't see, so she had to feel around for things the best way that she could.

It was perhaps a moment later that she could hear someone laughing- though when it was someone, it just meant that it was Kisame. Or at least she hoped it was her shark friend.

Just from that laugh, she was able to figure out where her friend was; or a rough guess of where she could find him. 

After a moment of stumbling around, she was able to brush her fingers against what felt to be his shoulder, next to his weapon. Okay, she at least knew that this body next to her was her friend. But she couldn't tell if it was just a clone of another ninja. That would take a bit more experimenting for her to figure it out.

"Have they discovered where we are yet?"

"Do you think we'd be here if they figured out where we are?"

"Well you have a point. If that's the case, I take it that's why we don't have a fire?"

That was a dumb question and she knew it; but it was just her excuse to make some conversation while she began to sit beside her friend. Maybe he knew that, since he didn't answer. The only thing he did was laugh a little.

"Right, you woke up cause you were tired. I was going to throw a blanket on you, but I didn't want to move from my spot. Here," feeling and hearing Kisame moving away from her for a moment, Sakura soon felt a blanket being tossed in her direction. He was lucky that she caught it, to be honest, "this should warm you up, kiddo."

Well that sounded like the normal shark man that she knew about and tolerated. But that didn't mean anything just yet. Though she was thankful for the blanket, which she gave a little grunt as a response.

"I think we'll be able to leave for the village sometime tomorrow. I mean, I managed to walk all the way over here, so that means I can make the trip back home," Sakura said, making an attempt to break the silence that was forming between the pair.

Not earning a response, the pinkette turned her head some to look at Kisame. Though her eyes had adjusted as good as they were going to, she still couldn't fully see what it was that her friend was staring at. Maybe he was just staring off into the distance.

Naruto and Sasuke used to do that all the time. Hell, even Sakura does it every now and then. It was a bit of a coping mechanism that they had all developed over the years.

The silence was soon back, but this time the girl didn't have the words that would inspire a conversation. Seconds dragged into minutes, and it wasn't before long that Sakura was beginning to fall asleep again. With her head leaning against Kisame's shoulder, she had almost lost consciousness again when her shark friend began speaking.

"So how long have you known about me being brainwashed?"

While it had sounded pleasant, the underlying tone of anger made the girl's heart drop. That didn't include the fact that her thudding heart made her brain run faster than her own blood.

How long had he known? Did she forget to check the ninjustu before they left? How had she not realized that something was wrong? Or maybe- Maybe he was just playing and was trying to mess with her. But the look in his eyes said otherwise. He wasn't smiling with those irises, there was nothing but betrayal in them.

And the longer the silence went on, the harsher that gaze was.

"I- Kisame, I-"

"You what? Thought that if you and the others kept a close watch on me, I wouldn't figure it out? Kiddo- Sakura. I might not think about tactics, but I'm not stupid when it comes to being watched like a shark." On any other day, that pun would have been funny. But not now. "It didn't take much to break through that brainwashing. I just had to think about how I found myself in Konoha and what I was doing before then. It crumbled like wood."

So that's what happened. He was left alone for too long and was pondering the situation of how he got stuck in the village. This was all turning to shit. Great. Lady Tsunade was going to seriously kill her if she couldn't get the genjutsu back in place.

This must have shown in her eyes because Kisame glared at her, like a knife cutting through the darkness. Even if her vision was poor, she knew what he was doing. They had been friends for a long while now; it would be a shame if she couldn't figure out the little things about Kisame.

"If you even try to use that genjutsu on me, I'll break your arms." A partial threat. Sakura and Kisame both knew that if anything were to happen between them, the pinkette would be the violent one in response.

Curling up around her blanket once more, Sakura rolled her eyes before she began speaking.

"I don't see a reason to try and use it on you. Not yet. You didn't leave me to go back to the Akatsuki while I was unconscious. So I don't think you'll want to go back."

A scoff was her first response. Followed by a hand that ruffled her hair. Which made the pinkette frown in his direction.

"I didn't leave because I couldn't go back. They'll try to kill me, if they haven't been trying the entire time I've been stuck in your village."

There seemed to be something else that she wasn't getting from Kisame. But it was going to be hard to pressure him into responding or admitting to it.

"So does that mean you understand why I have to put you back under the jutsu?" Sakura mumbled, leaning her chin against a knee. "If Tsunade and the others found out that you broke through the genjutsu, I'd get reprimanded and you would be put back under the technique."

There was a scoff that came from the male, followed by him soon standing up. He didn't seem to like the idea of being put back under, knowing fully well that he would find a haze in his memory. A flaw in what his brain would be trying to convince him was reality. The problem with that was that they both knew that this would happen again. That Kisame's brain would question how he came to be stuck here, again and again.

You couldn't use the genjutsu more than a couple of times before it finally stopped working completely. If anything, Sakura was going to have to use the genjutsu when Kisame was unsuspecting. That way, there wouldn't be an excuse for it to not work. And if he managed to break the jutsu, well it wouldn't be blamed on her for not noticing.

"That won't be happening, kiddo.I don't plan on letting anyone else put me under their genjutsu. Even if it means I'll have to fight you." He was serious. She could tell from the sound of his voice.

But Sakura also knew that Kisame wouldn't want to fight with her. Because they had formed a bond that he didn't have in the Akatsuki. A bond of both friendship and trust.

Something that wasn't often present with some shinobi.

"Then... What do you plan on doing now? Are you going to leave me here, or are you going to stay with the village?" It was an important question. One that, if Sakura let herself feel it, carried more weight than her concern for how they were going to get back home. That was something she could figure out easy once she set her mind to it.

From the way that silence was once again creeping up on the two, it was safe to assume that Kisame had no idea what he wanted to do now. Maybe he was going to stay here with her? Well, not here, here. Here in the village. But if he decided to leave, Sakura was going to have to accept that. And not try to force him to stay with everyone that she knew.

The silence dragged on for what felt like forever. It might have just been five minutes, but Sakura couldn't tell at the moment. She was tense, waiting to hear what Kisame decided he wanted to do.

"I'll stay for now. I've got nowhere to go. And f I went back to the Akatsuki, they'd try to get Konoha's secrets from me. If I stay here and pretend to be under the genjutsu still, I don't have to go anywhere." There was a snicker then as Sakura felt the ground vibrating with Kisame's foot steps. He was on the move again. But she didn't have to question where he was going, as she heard him sit down not far from where she was.

"I could always tell Lady Tsunade that the jutsu wore off and you agreed to stay with us despite realizing what we did to you-"

"If that's what you want to do," Kisame sad, cutting off the female from finishing her sentence. "But we can figure that out later. We have a couple things we need to figure out. Like where I put the sticks for that fire. You're freezing, right?"

Sakura didn't have to answer that one- her teeth had started chattering for a while now. Even with the blanket that she had been given, the cold was seeping into her skin. Making her frozen despite the warmth her body desired.

"Yeah. Do you want me to make the fire?" Getting to her feet, the pinkette began wandering around the cave in the dark, attempting to find the new spot that Kisame was at.

"You really want to try? You can't even see an inch in front of you, I don't think that's a good idea. I know how to make a fire, I can do it."

Normally she would argue this point with Kisame. Mostly about the fact that he could see just as well as she could, and that she could make a fire despite the darkness.

But Sakura merely sighed and shrugged her shoulders. As if the shark could see her motions.

"Fine. Go ahead and try to do it. You can see as good as I can, and you know it."

"Actually sharks can see in the darkness. So if you can see that you're about to run into that wall, then I'm impressed." Was he trying to mess with her? There was no way she was going to run into a wall.

To be safe, though, Sakura pressed her hand towards the air in front of her. Only to discover that, yes, there was the rocky surface of the caves wall beside her. How had she not realized this? The obvious answer was that she had never had to deal with him in a darkened space before. The more peculiar answer was that she didn't think that of all the traits that Kisame would get from the sharks, it would be that. Did that mean he had a heightened sense of smell? Probably.

Sakura didn't want to test that out though. At least not right now.

"Are you just going to stare at that wall? Come on, turn around and walk straight for five- Maybe six steps." Well at least he was good at giving instructions in the dark.

Turning around with her hand still resting on the wall, Sakura did as she was told. She even counted out the steps until her foot came in contact with what felt like a tiny rock. It clinked against her foot, and then it clanked against more rocks. This must have been where Kisame planned to make the fire. Hopefully it wasn't going to flicker and blaze too brightly, or else the ninja outside might find them.

That wasn't something that Sakura was too fond of thinking about, but she was sure that Kisame already knew about that. And if he wasn't worried, she didn't think she had to be as worried. 

Stabilizing herself enough to sit on the ground in front of that fire pit, Sakura's ears caught the sound of the male clacking two stones together. He must have found the sticks he needed to ignite the fire.

Little flashes of spark began cutting through the darkness, and it was only seconds later before the cave was filled with a warm fire and light. Something that she didn't realize she had grown to miss until now. Judging from the relieved look on Kisame's face, he seemed to feel the same way. Even though he could see in the dark far better than her.

"You know, I thought sharks were cold blooded; shouldn't you not feel heat?" The woman teased, earning herself a scoff from her friend.

Someone would think he was offended by her words or something. But that couldn't be. Kisame was the one that always offended people. There was no possible way it could be the other way around. Not at all.

"You little shit, you decide to joke around now, of all times?" Kisame said, though his tone wasn't holding any menace. More than likely, he found the question amusing. He just didn't want to admit to it.

"Yes I do! I see no reason why we can't joke around like we always do."

"Aside from the fact we're hiding from a bunch of shinobi," the shark grumbled, rolling his head back and forth to try and pop his neck. "But yes, sharks are cold blooded. I am not. Just cause I look like one, doesn't mean my blood is like one."

So he was salty about being called cold blooded. Gosh, it was like he easily got offended by insults when it came to his body. But that didn't sound like the Kisame that she knew.

"I forget that you look like a shark, Kisame. I'm so used to it now that more often than anything, I see you with skin like mine."

The compliment seemed to go a long way with the shark man, as he grew quiet and stared into the fire silently. He clearly wasn't expecting that to be said to him. Kisame wasn't the only one that was full of surprises when it came to conversations with friends. He should have known how snarky the female shinobi could get.

"Well, I appreciate that," his words were so soft, Sakura thought she was just hearing things at first. But when she looked into his eyes, reading his seemingly happy expression, she realized that he wasn't joking.

It made her wonder how often someone said something nice about his skin. Probably not very often. Which made sense, in a way. Not a lot of people had the nerve to see and learn about Kisame's personality. But he grew on the pinkette, and it showed in the way that both of them interacted with each other.

"I'm glad. And now that we have a fire going, I can check my wound and see if can fix it some more."

Kisame didn't have anything to say about that, but Sakura didn't mind. It gave her the chance to inspect the wound for her own eyes.

Sitting up a bit more, the girl gingerly pulled her shirt up to just above her stomach, grimacing at the sight. Despite how good it was wrapped up, there was obvious leaks and open spots from the attack. She would have to take off the bandages to try and fix some of the damage.

"I hope you have more bandage wrap, cause I have to take this off," Sakura commented, soon beginning to do just that. Without a word, Kisame tossed what looked to be more wrap for her. Perfect.

Now she was going to be able to get started. And hopefully, she wouldn't need to use those bandages when she was done.


	6. Chapter 6

Thanks to Kisame, Sakura had been able to heal herself a bit more. It had been just a few hours since the two had last talked. Though that was because the pinkette was more concerned about taking care of her injury than talking. 

Maybe that was why he didn't really try to speak to her. Not for very long, at least. It was taking all of her concentration to repair and revive the blood cells in her body that had been lost. It wasn't a simple task- especially for a shinobi like Sakura.

To think, if Kisame hadn't bandaged her up when he did- even if it was with leaves and whatever wrap he could find -she most likely would have bled out. Something that didn't really sit well with the girl.

It was too soon for her to even associate her life with her death. She still had so much to do; and she had friends that needed her around. Granted, one of the key people she was talking about was Naruto- she still didn't like the idea of dying.

Especially not in some cave. One that she didn't even know the location of. If she were to die here, no one would be able to find her. At least she had Kisame. That was her only saving grace in this moment, she supposed.

"So, kiddo, are you able to walk around and run now without spilling yourself all over the floor?" The sharkman questioned, causing the human to look up at him.

Would she be able to move and walk around like she didn't have an injury on her body that would hinder all of her movements? Especially her fighting style? Yes. Totally. She could take off in a full sprint and wouldn't accidentally rip herself open. That's what he wanted to hear, right?

She was just being rather salty. Having been cooped up here for what she was certain was a full day now, she had every right to be a little annoyed. She wanted to go home.

The mission they were given had fallen through. Kisame was aware of what had been done to him. Everything had fallen to crap, to put it bluntly.

Though, if she was being honest, she was happy that her friend was no longer under the genjutsu. This meant that she didn't have to hide anything from him anymore. And he didn't have to feel like he was missing parts of his memory. Because now he wasn't.

She just hoped that Tsunade and the others would agree with her on why she hadn't put him back under the jutsu. It just... didn't feel right. He was still by her side, still helping her heal her wound. Helping them both survive while the shinobi from the misty village tried to hunt them down.

It would be a shame if she decided to turn against him now. She felt more than a little obligated to let him have the ability to remember all the things that had happened since he got to Konoha. Even if others thought that he didn't deserve it, she did. To her, that just showed how far they had come as friends.

"Well, if we aren't running that fast or get caught by any of the ninja out there, I should be fine," Sakura responded, patting her stomach for a moment. It no longer hurt, but it did still have a dull throb every now and then. 

She didn't have time to heal it all the way, it was just enough to heal the outer skin and the wound itself. That way, she wouldn't bleed out while they were trying to survive.

"So you won't be able to defend yourself if it really comes down to it, got it," Kisame stated.

Immediately, the pinkette glared at him. How dare he think that of her. That just because she was injured, she wouldn't be able to take care of herself. She had always done it. Even when she was with Sasuke and Naruto.

Was he trying to annoy her? Because if that was the case, then it was working. And she didn't like that he knew what to say to get under her skin when he really wanted to.

"I'm fully capable of taking care of myself and you know it. Just let those shinobi come at me. I'll show you what I can do." Sakura stated, the determination strong in her eyes.

She wasn't going to let Kisame push her around, simply because she was injured. Even if that wasn't what he meant to do, it's what had come out of his mouth. Now he had to own up to it and deal with it.

"Hey, you know I didn't mean it how you think I did-"

"Yes you did. I can see it in your face!"

At that, the sharkman couldn't stop the thundering laugh that came out of him. Had her words been that amusing to him? Well, they hadn't been talking for a few hours, so maybe he was just deprived of attention. He was the type to have that problem. If the attention wasn't on him, then he had to make it so.

"Do you think I'm trying to call you a weakling, Sakura? Just because you're injured and might be a hindrance if we get into a fight?"

Well he hit that nail right on the wood.

She assumed that that was why he was talking to her like she was a child. Like she couldn't do anything right now. When in fact, even if it cost her her life, she was determined to make it back to the village.

One could imagine her surprise when she felt a scaly hand poking dangerously close to her wound. It was just a nail, of course. But it still caught the girl by surprise.

Without properly thinking about it, Sakura grabbed the wrist of that hand. Digging her heels into the ground, she twisted her body around, and slammed Kisame onto the ground. Luckily for the both of them, there was nothing that could injure him. Well. Except for Sakura, that is.

When she realized what she had done, the pnkette released Kisame's wrist and immediately went to his side. She hadn't meant to do that. Oh god if he was injured, that would mean they couldn't go anywhere. That they would be stuck here even longer. And with both of them hurting, that would make them even easier targets.

"You shouldn't have done that! Jeez, are you hurt, Kisame?"

The girl only got a laugh in response- weak as it was. Apparently she wasn't the only one that had been surprised by what she had done. It was rare to frighten Sakura enough to suddenly do that to someone.

That didn't mean it was okay for him to just start laughing. Like he hadn't just been flung to the ground by a far tinier person than him. She wouldn't admit that it was a relief to have hear him laughing though. That meant he was okay. Or as okay as he wanted her to believe. Either way, he was fine and they both knew it.

"I'm fine. I wanted to prove a point to you," he said, slowly pulling himself into a sitting position as he rubbed the back of his head. He would be lucky if he didn't get a concussion from that blow. "That you aren't weak. Even if you think you are. Look, you didn't even open your wound."

Looking down as he spoke, Sakura found that he was right. That there was no opening, and she didn't feel any pain. Had she really healed it good enough for that to happen? That made no sense. She hadn't used all that much chakra. At least, she didn't think that she did.

"We'll be fine getting back to the village. You're more resilient than you realize, kiddo. Plus you're really short. That means all o your pent up anger has a focal point. You're too angry to keel over in a place like this." He teased.

Sakura had to resist the urge to punch him in that moment. She wasn't short. He was just freakishly tall!

Getting to her feet, the girl did give him a little kick in his side. Which did cause Kisame to groan. Just what she had wanted to hear. He deserved it after scaring her like that.

"Yeah, yeah. Come on, I guess we should try to start heading back to the village." Sakura said, rolling her eyes before she inspected a majority of the cave that they were in. 

Daylight had started leaking in a while ago, so she was able to see better. She didn't need Kisame laughing at her for nearly tripping over a rock or bopping her nose against a wall. Both things she wasn't exactly fond of doing. Though they both knew that the shark found it absolutely hilarious that she would do things like that.

Because she couldn't see in the dark, like him. Sometimes she just wanted to punch him. Just to get it over with. The way he always grinned and laughed at her was annoying.

But she secretly enjoyed it. It was nice to have a friend around again. She usually had to go on missions with people that she didn't know. At least in this situation, she knew Kisame. Knew him better than any of the other shinobi in her home.

Now that she thought about it, she was the only person to ever really get to now the ninja, right? For some reason, that made her chest swell. She assumed it was with pride. Or maybe that was her hoping that it was pride?

"Kiddo, you might want to redo the bandage before we leave, right? Or do you not need them anymore?" Kisame's voice cut through her thoughts, causing the pinkette to look over at him.

Redo the bandages? It wasn't like she really needed them anymore. The bleeding had stopped a while ago. Why would he even suggest that? He should have been able to smell her blood if it was still bleeding out. And then, just like lighting a match. She got what he was trying to get at.

If they were being tailed after they left the cave, and the ninja's that were following them noticed that Sakura had bandages- they would immediately assume that the two wouldn't be able to protect themselves.

It was a good idea to draw out their attackers. But it was also risky. They couldn't possibly know how many were out looking for them. But if they found the two shinobi, and assumed they didn't need the entire group, Sakura and Kisame could take them all out at once.

Well worth the risk.

"Right. Yeah. You're right. I should redo the bandages. I don't know how long I've been wearing these ones," Sakura amended, turning away from the sharkman once more to begin taking off the bandages.

These ones had spots of blood on them, from when she had been healing herself and pushed too hard on the injury. So if she put it on top of the new bandages, no one would realize what she was doing. What trap they were laying out for those that might attack them.

Too bad for those that would think it was safe to do that, it never was. Not with these two.

Sakura hadn't heard Kisame get up from where he was sitting though. If she had, she would have turned to look at him. Though this time, when he touched her shoulder, she forced herself to not react. And to not throw him against the wall this time.

When she turned her head, the female paused at the sight in front of her. He looked so... serious? No, that wasn't the right word. He looked like he was thinking about something- something that she couldn't understand. Not with just a look.

Taking a quick glance at how he was standing, and the way he was staring down at her, Sakura's mind came up rather blank. She didn't know what he was trying to do. It wasn't a ploy for the shinobi outside; simply because they didn't know the two were in here. And if they did, they would have been heard by either of the duo.

"Kisame, what are you doing?" Sakura questioned, raising an eyebrow as she spoke.

Her words didn't appear to reach his ears though. Those eyes were focused on her face, and it made the pinkette scrunch her eyebrows together. Why was he staring at her so intensely? Was he even actually looking at her?

When it became obvious that Kisame wasn't exactly paying attention to her, Sakura clenched her fist together. If he wasn't going to answer her, then he shouldn't be so close to her. Not when she was trying to 'bandage' her wounds and pretend to be an injured person.

He was starting to irritate her. It obviously showed on her face, but with how he was acting, Kisame didn't seem at all phased by her expression. Or if he noticed, he wasn't showing it.

"Kisame, let me go-"

It was then that he finally responded. Though not in the verbal sense like Sakura had been expecting. 

His free hand had moved to cup Sakura's chin- one of the gentlest touches that she hadn't even realized that he had tilted her head up. At least, not until she felt lips against her own.

It took her by surprise- something that she hadn't been expecting. Not here. And certainly not ever. Kisame never once acted like he was interested in her like that- and vice versa.

Continuing to glide his lips against hers, Sakura finally felt her brain catching up to what was going on. That was when, even in the quiet of the cave around them, anyone close enough could hear the resounding smack that bounced off the walls.

Her hand hurt, that was for sure. But Kisame's cheek had turned a slightly darker blue. She hadn't hit him that hard, after all. She hadn't wanted to hurt him, and this was the only way she was able to do something. 

There was once again silence, as now it was Kisame's turn to let his brain catch up to just what happened. After a moment, the shark looked to Sakura again and grinned down at her.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it. You know we have a high chance of dying today, right?" Kisame said, chuckling as the pinkette squinted daggers at him. She wasn't buying that for even a second. He wouldn't just do that, and they both knew it. "I'm serious. We don't know how many shinobi are out there looking for us. Nothing is going to stop your wound from opening back up too. So if you die, that will be sad. I figured you'd at least lie a last kiss if that happens."

So he was teasing her. Of course. She should have seen that coming. That made more sense than him just brazenly kissing her for the sake of kissing her. He wouldn't want to do that any other time, right? Yeah, that made perfect sense.

"Well I won't be dying. So you did that for no reason. Unless you want to be put into an early grave, Kisame?" She asked, watching as the sharkman laughed again. Though this time, he did begin backing away. He didn't want to get killed.

"I'll hold you to that, kiddo."

Grumbling, the girl returned to what she had been previously doing. Taking care of the bandages. Right. 

She didn't even feel like doing this trap anymore. But she bit through the annoyance and did it. They would have an easier time getting through to the village if she followed up with this. They'd have a higher chance of living if this worked out.

Out of one ear, Sakura could hear Kisame beginning to pack his stuff up as well. Even going so far as to cover the mini fireplace with stones. Better to keep the smoke from showing if they have to put it out. Most likely, they'd let it burn until it died out on its own. That way, they wouldn't be trailed as quickly. Maybe they would get lucky and the shinobi would assume they were in the cave. And then would attack it. That would give them more of a chance to get away.

The girl didn't realize just how much she was stressing about this until Kisame found an opportunity to speak up again.

"We will survive, kiddo. You're smarter and stronger than you look. And I'm strong, but also a good listener," turning her head to look at him, Sakura saw those eyes looking at her, a small smile on his lips, "and if we make it out of this alive, I'll give you a real kiss-"

And he ruined it, just like that.

"Kisame, shuddup!"

-

They had been walking for an hour or so, fighting through the mist that Sakura couldn't see through. She was lucky that Kisame was here, and could- apparently -sniff his way through the mist. Another acquired shark ability that he had for some reason. How is it that he never talked about having these abilities until the time was needed for them? Maybe he just liked showing off what he could do.

Whatever, as long as they could get back home, she wasn't going to complain about it. Though he definitely needed to sit down and tell her all about what he can and can't do. Make it easier to plan attacks and formations that way if they started working in bigger groups.

His sense of smell and sight would help a lot of recon missions, and to take back scrolls that could possibly get stolen. If he decided to stay in Konoha for the rest of his life, that is.

They hadn't really spoken since Sakura almost curb stomped him for continuously making jokes about how awful of a kisser she was. Something that she had never thought she would have to sit and listen to her friend say.

He had learned his lesson after that. But that didn't mean she wasn't hearing the mumbled, off-handed comments that he was making while they walked through the mist. 

She let him have that though. Let him think that she was unable to hear what he was saying. It would just surprise him in the later end of the walk when she threw him through a bunch of fabric. And then paid for what she would break.

Sighing, the pinkette looked around herself. Though there wasn't much for her to really see. Just a ton of thick, white clouds. It would be easier if she or Kisame could take the mist away. But if they did that, it would be like a beacon.

The shinobi would know that they were on the move, and they'd come running. It was why they weren't really speaking. Although that was soon about to change.

"So, Sakura. I know you're thinking about when to put that genjutsu back on me," Kisame started, causing the pinkette to turn her attention onto him. So he had known? That wasn't really a surprise. Not for her.

"Yeah? I also know that you kind of don't want me to do it. And if you don't want me to..." She stopped there for a moment. If he didn't want the genjutsu back on his mind, she wouldn't do it. Forcing him into something, even if it was to help out the entire Konoha village, wasn't right. Sakura couldn't just do something like that. She couldn't agree with it. "...Yeah, if you don't want me to do it, then I won't. All I ask is that you still come back to Konoha with me. I'll explain it to Tsunade and if she thinks it's okay, we won't have to use the genjutsu on you."

This seemed to surprise Kisame. He even turned his head to look at her, those irises slightly. Had he been expecting her to try and use the jutsu on him without him being aware of it? That was rude, if that was the case. She wasn't the type to do that. Other, older shinobi would. But not her.

She was like Tsunade like that, she supposed.

As the two were staring at each other, Sakura blinked her eyes. She wasn't being expected to say more, was she? She hoped not. That was all she had to say about that matter. She wasn't going to use it on him and that was that. If he wanted to stay, he had to wait until they reached the village. And they still had a bit of a ways to go for that. A long bit of a ways. A few days, in fact.

They would have to avoid as many of the shinobi as they would be able. They would have given up if it was Sakura and someone else. But it just had to be Kisame.

They both knew he was the reason the shinobi were so stubborn in their pursuit. But neither would say it.

-

"There's one on your left, Sakura!"

"Yeah, I know. Just keep running."

The two had gotten very close to the end. It had taken about, four days or so, just to get as close to Konoha as they were. In that time, Sakura's wound had healed completely, and they had discovered that they most definitely were being tracked.

The village's ninja's were in hot pursuit of them. Probably to kill Kisame, in case he tried to give away their secrets. Too bad for them, the person he was teamed with, never backed down without a fight.

When their pursuers had realized that Sakura and Kisame knew that they were being hunted, the real chase was on. He had realized two hours ago, that the hunters were now running towards them.

So they had to take off at a sprint too. If they could reach Konoha, then everything would be fine. They wouldn't dare attack Kisame or Sakura on their home turf.

The problem wasn't running there though. The problem was that they had begun using throwing stars halfway through the chase.

Neither had gotten seriously injured, but Sakura knew if they weren't careful, all it would take is one shot to bring them down.

A sudden yell from Kisame informed her that another throwing star was directed towards her. Which snapped her right out of her thoughts. She didn't need to be thinking right now, after all.

Digging her heel into the ground for a moment, Sakura swing her body around, throwing a star right at the one aimed at her. Once she heard the metallic clang that said the weapon met with the other, she took off again.

Sakura took a quick look at Kisame. Immediately, she could see that he was growing tired of running. This wasn't something that he was used to doing. But they couldn't afford to fight back. Not yet. They weren't near enough the village. They had to get closer, and then take on the ninja. That way, if anything happened, the rest of the clan could come out.

They had better chances with more numbers on their side.

She had told him this before the hunt began, and he grudgingly had agreed that the two wouldn't fight. Shouldn't fight. Not unless they absolutely had to. And so far, they didn't have to.

But that changed when Sakura, in her attempt to gauge how Kisame was doing, failed to notice one of the enemy shinobi, lunging out at them from the bushes.

They both hadn't noticed until it was too late for the pinkette to dodge. Cursing herself for not paying attention, Sakura slammed her fist into the opponents stomach. Without missing a beat, he was flung far passed the trees because of the impact. And because no one should ever try to mess with Sakura. Not when she was at full power like now. They just needed to last a little longer. Just a few more miles and then they would be in the homestretch.

Unfortunately, this didn't deter the other pursuers in the slightest, They picked up the pace, and Sakura had no choice but to do the same. They had to make it. By now, the shinobi of her village would have realized that they were coming. And that they were being chased. They would have to meet in the middle somewhere, right? She just had to hope that they'd all be in one piece when that happened. 

"Sakura, jump-!" Kisame didn't even have to finish his sentence. The shinobi was already in the air by the time the last word finished leaving his lips. A moment later, she saw a knife whizzing passed where she had just been. That would have seriously injured her. Probably cut off the circulation to her spleen. Something that she would rather much keep intact, if she was honest.

Looking back for a moment, she saw another ninja lunging for Kisame, a knife in hand. Using the momentum that she still had, Sakura raised her fist, and slammed herself down onto the ground. It sent all of them- including Kisame -flailing in the air for a moment. She had a hold of the ground, so it wasn't like she was going to go anywhere. Not this time.

The first to recover from her blow was a ninja that was against the two of them. He lunged forward, intent on striking while her guard was down. Too bad for him, he had been noticed by Sakura. Pulling her fist from the ground, the shinobi kicked up her foot, connecting with his jaw. He didn't even have a chance to counter as he was sent up into the air.

So much for staying on the run to keep from getting involved in a fight. Already, she could hear Kisame withdrawing Samehada to attack those that were fighting him. She would have to go over there and cover his back. They were more vulnerable when they were at a great distance away from each other like they were. The only thing that backfired from her plan to send their enemies flying.

Avoiding other shinobi that were trying to attack her, Sakura made her way to Kisame. He would need help. That giant sword, while very helpful, left a lot of blind spots open. Ones that she knew the others would try and take advantage of. An example was now, as one of the ninja jumped down from a tree to skewer his head.

"Got him!" Sakura called out before Kisame could raise Samehada to block the blow. It was a miracle that the two trusted each other so much, because he didn't even raise the sword after she said that. 

A moment later, the girl knocked the shinobi out of the air with a swift punch from her fist. It stopped her momentum just enough so she was pressed back to back against the sharkman. Now they could see how many had been chasing them. There were a lot more than she had been expecting. Maybe twenty? It seemed right, though you could never be sure with the Village Hidden in the Mist. They knew how to copy themselves, just like everyone else. Though to what extent, she was unsure of. Hopefully not as good as Naruto. Or else they would be in a lot of trouble. Trouble that she wouldn't be able to get them out of without getting hurt.

"So, if we don't make it out of this, do you still hate that you can't kiss right?"

What? Now? Now he wanted to start teasing her? When they were in the middle of something? Was he serious? She didn't have to look back at him to know that he was grinning. Or that he was serious. He wasn't being rhetorical either. He actually wanted a response. Of course he did.

"I can kiss better than that. You took me by surprise. We're kind of in the middle of something, you know," Sakura responded, cracking her knuckles as she glared at the shinobi that were beginning to surround them. She could take them out all at once. But... the problem with that was the drawback. It would most likely render her immobile- unconscious. She had wanted to bring them closer to the village before she had to pull that out. Now, as she was staring at the over shinobi, it looked like she wouldn't get that choice unless they did something unexpected.

"Oh really? How about this: If we make it to the village, we go have dinner together. And then you can show me just how good of a kisser you supposedly are." Was this really happening? Right here, right now? He was asking her out on a date? Like they weren't about to be attacked by shinobi- who also looked rather stunned. Maybe that was his plan? No, she doubted that. He wouldn't do something like that. Only Naruto would be that stupid to think it would work.

It seemed the shock value had worn off on the shinobi around them. Now they had begun to leap at the two. Making sure she didn't miss a beat, Sakura got down on her knees just as Kisame swung Samehada in a circle. The two were rather in sync now, as Sakura felt the shark grab her. Only to toss her into the air. Just what she wanted. As she began falling, the pinkette prepared her fist for the impact. Chakra leaked from her skin, but no one noticed just yet. Even as Kisame leaped out of the way, they didn't realize their mistake until she hit the ground, blowing all of them away.

"You know what? Fine. Let's go."

**Author's Note:**

> This was a commission from Nora! I hope that they like it and that everyone else who reads this will like it. There will be more chapters to come as well.


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